Synchronicity
by psych21
Summary: COMPLETED! What started out as a one night stand could lead to more, if he would let it. How far will he let it go? (Harvey X OC)
1. Chapter 1

Synchronicity

Chapter One

"To another successful win." Harvey raised his glass up and clinked it with Mike's glass. "You really came through at the end there."

"It's what I do and why you keep me around." Mike smirked.

"Oh is that why? I knew there had to a be a reason." Harvey chuckled.

"Be honest." Mike laughed. "You actually thought for a moment we wouldn't win."

"No." He shook his head. "I knew we would win. I just didn't know if you would come through or if I would have to step in make the game winning home run for you."

"Sure." Mike rolled his eyes. "That's a very convenient story you have there."

He watched as Mike downed the rest of the liquid in his glass. "Another round?"

"Actually no." Mike shook his head and looked at his watch. "I know we came out to celebrate but I promised Rachel I would try to get home early if possible. We apparently have to pick our wedding date tonight."

"Ah yes." He chuckled again. "I get it. You don't want to disappoint the future Mrs. Mike Ross." He had in fact brought Mike out tonight to one of his favorite places in order to celebrate their win for Fowler Cosmetics. But if Mike was going to wimp out and leave less than an hour into the night he would have to find some other way to celebrate.

"We're good though?" Mike asked.

"Of course." Harvey nodded as his attention was drawn to a brunette who was approaching their table. She was in a skin tight dark blue halter dress that hugged every curve as she moved. Some women made that kind of dress look trashy, but this woman just looked damn sexy. She had a way of walking that exuded confidence. He kept his gaze on her as she walked past the table and headed to the bar.

"Harvey? Did you hear what I just said?"

Mike's voice brought him back and he turned his head to face the man he considered another brother. "What?"

"I was asking if you would be alright celebrating the rest of the night without me but I think I know the answer already." He pointed to the bar.

Harvey smirked. "Oh I'm sure I'll be alright. But suddenly I feel the need for another drink."

"Better head on over to the bar then and get your fix." Mike laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah. I won't be in early tomorrow." Harvey nodded. "Have fun living the domesticated life." He waited until Mike was on his way out before standing up. Buttoning his suit jacket and adjusting his tie, he picked up the empty glass and headed to the bar. Although there were several spots open he walked right up to the left of the mystery woman who had caught his eye.

"Hey Joe, can I have another Macallen 18 when you get a chance?"

"Sure thing." Joe replied from behind the bar.

While he was waiting for his drink he turned to face the woman and gave her a long glance from head to toe.

"You know, there comes a point where staring at me stops being free." The woman said without looking over. She instead took the last drink of her martini.

"Have I reached that point yet?" He was intrigued by this woman already.

"Almost." She turned to face him. "A few more seconds and you'll have to buy my next round."

"Done." He winked. She had the most expressive brown eyes. It looked like they had a speck of gold in the middle. By now his drink was sitting in front of him. "Hey Joe, can you also get this gorgeous woman next to me another drink?"

"Absolutely." Joe nodded.

"Gorgeous, huh?" She baited him.

"I just call 'em like I see 'em."

"Well thank you for the drink and the compliment." She winked back.

He watched as she picked up the drink Joe placed in front of her. He put some bills on the bar and saw her stand up. "Are you leaving already?" He was alright with Mike leaving early, but if this woman left early too he would have to reevaluate his charm.

"No. I figured you bought me the drink so we could go back to your table." She answered. "Was I wrong about that?"

"You're bold, but not wrong." He hadn't meant to say that first part aloud and was surprised when he heard himself say it. But he wasn't used to a woman who was this direct.

She just laughed and he followed her back to the table that he had been recently sitting at with Mike. He put his drink down before he pulled out her chair for her. Then he went over and sat down across from her.

"So…you managed to get me to your table, which I assume was your goal while you were ogling me. What's next on your agenda?"

He couldn't help but smile at this woman. She was just as confident and full of herself as he was. That was rare, even in New York City. "Who says I have an agenda?"

She smiled. "Oh come on. You don't strike me as the type of man who does anything spontaneously." She gave him a long once over. "No, you look like a man who likes to have a plan."

"Now who is calling 'em like they see 'em?" He laughed. "And who's to say that my goal ended with simply getting you to my table. Maybe my goal was to get you to come home with me tonight."

"My name is Rebecca." She held out her hand for him to shake. "And you would be?"

"Harvey." Instead of shaking her hand, he reached over and kissed the top of her hand. It was nice to have a name to go with her beautiful face.

"Nice to meet you, Harvey." Rebecca smiled. She took a drink of her fresh martini. "So tell me something. Do you make it a point to stare at every woman who comes in here?"

"No." He shook his head. "Only a select few catch my eye."

"Then I should be honored?" She chuckled.

"Something like that, yeah." Harvey chuckled.

"So why are you here tonight?" She asked.

"Just celebrating a really good day at work with my associate." He explained. "I'm a…"

"I don't need to know what you do." Rebecca interrupted him. "And you don't need to know what I do either."

"Ok." He nodded. She wanted to keep some intrigue about herself and he was interested enough to let her. "And why are you here tonight?"

"I'm new to the city." She explained. "A friend of mine told me if I ever moved here the first thing I should do is come here for the best vodka martinis in the city."

"Well Joe does make a mean vodka martini." Harvey told her with a smirk.

"You're on a first name basis with the bartender." Rebecca noted. "I don't know if I should be impressed or start handing you pamphlets for rehab centers."

He laughed heartily. "What can I say? I've just been coming here for a while now."

She was quiet. He watched as she seemed to be studying him. He was getting ready to say something when she finally spoke again.

"Do you want to get out of here with me right now?" She smirked, raising one eyebrow.

It took him less than a second to reply. "Hell yes I do."

* * *

Once Harvey unlocked the door to his penthouse, Rebecca pushed her way through to enter first. He watched as she looked around at his place. Most women when they saw his place for the first time tried to ingratiate themselves to him by complimenting the view or his décor. Everything in his place seemed to impress women and he assumed Rebecca would be the same.

He stood next to her and looked over. He was wrong. The look on her face wasn't wonder or appreciation. It was more of boredom. He had no idea who this woman was but there was something about her that was acting like a magnet for him, drawing him closer and closer.

"What do you think?" He asked, finding himself eager to get her opinion.

"About what?" She asked, turning to face him.

"My place." He replied, motioning to the space around him.

"It's a penthouse." She chuckled. "And it looks designed to impress others. I'm sure others are impressed. To me it just looks like a place to live."

"Who exactly are you?" He smirked.

She took a few steps closer to him. "Don't worry, Harvey. I'll tell you…I'm just a girl…standing in front of a boy…waiting for him to make the first move. I waited at the bar for you to approach me. I waited at the table for you to ask me back to your place." She reached back and pulled down the zipper of her dress, pushing it down and letting it pool on the hardwood flooring. "But I'm getting tired of waiting."

Without another word, she closed the gap between them and started kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pinned her against the wall, thrusting his hips toward her center. He started kissing her neck while one hand started massaging her breast. The moans coming from Rebecca only spurred him on more.

"I want you, Harvey." She whispered as she started to undo his belt, followed by his pants.

"Do you always get what you want?" He whispered back.

"I will tonight." She smirked. "And so will you."

* * *

The next morning, Harvey's eyes had a hard time adjusting to the bright light of the sun streaming through his windows. It didn't take him long to remember what happened last night. He had brought Rebecca back to his place and they had sex in two different rooms before settling in the bed for a couple more rounds. She was as insatiable as he was and he had to admit that she was beyond intriguing. He usually just did one night stands. Relationships were not his thing because they meant you had to be vulnerable to another person. You had to trust them not to hurt you and that was something he wasn't good at. But he was tempted to see if they could get together again.

He rolled over in bed to see if she would be amenable to that but found the other side of the bed was unoccupied. The only thing there was a piece of paper with the word "Thanks" and then a lipstick kiss underneath.

She had snuck out of his place. He couldn't help but laugh. Normally he had to practically kick women out of his place in the morning because they saw how nice his penthouse was and tried to attach themselves to him. She was the exact opposite and kicked herself out. He wasn't sure whether or not to be appreciative or disappointed.

After all, there wasn't an easy way to see her again. He didn't have her last name and the odds of running into her again in a place like New York City was slim. The only thing he could think of to see her again was to go to the same place every night and hope she showed up again, but that seemed pathetic.

With a heavy sigh, he threw back the covers and got up to start his day.

* * *

Rebecca walked down the hallway of her new firm, Florrick, Bastin and James. To her left was Xavier Bastin, the guy responsible for bringing her to New York City in the first place. She wanted…no she needed to get as far away from California as she could. When she met Xavier Bastin at a law conference and he mentioned his firm had a senior partner opening she jumped at the chance for a fresh start.

"And here is your new office." Xavier smiled, pointing to the office in front of him.

She couldn't help but be surprised. There had to be some kind of mistake. "Xavier, this is a corner office."

"Yeah." He nodded, as if there was nothing amiss. "So?"

"I don't think I deserve a corner office yet."

"See that's where you are wrong." He laughed. "You absolutely do deserve a corner office. Don't be so modest about yourself. You are my right hand woman and so you deserve only the best."

"I'm not sure…"

"Your name is already on the door." He pointed out. "Don't make me have to have them take it off. I've heard taking names off of doors is a pain in the ass for the maintenance people."

She looked and saw it. Rebecca Monroe was scrawled out in cursive. Underneath it was Senior Partner. Looking over at him again, she smiled. "Ok. I guess this is my new office then. Thank you."

"You are most welcome." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Now, on to business. Your first case is on your desk. I have no doubt that you will be able to hit the ground running. Your opponent is a worthy advisory though. No one has beaten him yet, but something tells me he's met his match with you."

"I'll do my best to make you proud." She promised, watching him leave. Once he was far enough away she entered the office and looked around. The view was amazing and she could see herself being happy here. The office was big enough for a desk, a couch, two chairs and several bookcases. Her office back in LA hadn't been this large. There was a nagging thought in her head as she wondered why she was given this kind of office since she was the new kid on the block, but she squashed that. It didn't matter. She was here and this was her office now.

There was a knock on her door and a young woman entered. "Hi. My name is Adrienne. I'm your secretary."

"It's nice to meet you." She smiled at the girl, who looked to be barely 21. "I'm Rebecca."

"I know." She nodded. "Mr. Bastin told me about you. He really thinks highly of you. Let me know if there's anything special you need to get started." After she said that, she left the room.

Rebecca chuckled at her new secretary. Adrienne seemed like a sweet girl but she wasn't sure about her abilities as a secretary yet. She sat down at her new desk and opened the file for her first case.

It was a hostile takeover bid from one of the firms' clients. She glanced at the attorney of record for the other side. Harvey Specter from Pearson Specter Litt. She giggled as she read the name Harvey and memories of last night assaulted her.

Then she quickly grabbed her phone. She didn't meet a lot of people named Harvey anymore. It wasn't a popular name that popped up regularly. Typing Harvey Specter into the search engine, she groaned when a picture came up.

The picture staring back at her from her phone was of Harvey with his stupid, charming face. It was then she realized her one night stand was with her new opposing counsel. And according to Xavier, Harvey was practically unbeatable. "Shit."

She wasn't the type to have one night stands and she didn't go out last night looking to hook up with anyone. But he was so handsome and there was something about him that made her insides turn to goo. She wanted him and for once she let herself go after what she wanted—to hell with the consequences. Of course now there were going to be consequences.

After she got over the shock of it she realized it meant she would be able to see him again and smiled. If he really was unbeatable though, she needed to work twice as hard. But she didn't mind the hard work.


	2. Chapter 2

Synchronicity

Chapter Two

A few days later, Harvey walked down the hallway of Pearson Specter Litt with a slight bounce in his step. Even though he would most likely never see Rebecca again, that night with her had been amazing and he was still in a good mood because of it. Even Louis being Louis didn't bother him as much, which actually irritated Louis and was entertaining to see. He smiled at Donna as he approached her desk. "Good morning, Donna."

He headed into his office, certain that Donna would follow. She had a determined look on her face. Sure enough, she was right behind him.

"Don't sit down." She warned. "You have a meeting right now with Richard Stein from Barboza Insurance."

"Why?" Harvey questioned. "That wasn't on the calendar last night."

"He just showed up and said it was an emergency so I put him in conference room C." Donna explained.

"Get Mike and have him meet me here so we can go see what he wants." Harvey sighed.

"Already done." Donna smiled as Mike strolled through the door.

"Let's go." Harvey said, looking at Mike for a nanosecond before leading the way to conference room A.

"Richard!" Harvey greeted, shaking the man's hand. "Nice to see you again." Barboza Insurance was a client worth $3 million a year in billables and he wanted to make sure Richard was taken care of properly. "What can we do for you today?"

"You can help stop the hostile takeover that is threatening my company and keep me from getting booted out as CEO." Richard told him.

"Who is responsible?" Harvey asked.

"Devore Industries." Richard replied. "We didn't realize that they were buying up large shares of the company through different subsidiaries."

"How much do they own already?" Mike asked.

"35% of the company." Richard sighed.

"Shit." Harvey whispered. "Have they sent a tender offer yet?"

"Here." Richard handed him a piece of paper. "I received it yesterday afternoon."

Harvey glanced at the document and then handed it to Mike.

"Harvey…you have to work your magic and get me the hell out of this. I can't lose my job and the company."

"We'll get to work on this right now." Harvey promised the man. "We won't let them kick you out."

"Thank you." Richard said, getting up and shaking their hands before leaving.

"How are we going to fight this?" Mike asked once the client was out of the room.

"Let's take a closer look at Devore Industries and see if there is any way to block the tender offer. And set a meeting with their attorneys for tomorrow. Let's see if we can rattle them into a settlement." Harvey answered.

"I'm on it."

* * *

Rebecca walked down the halls of her new firm towards her office. Today she had a meeting with Harvey to discuss the hostile takeover suit and if she was honest with herself…well she was nervous about it.

He had a commanding presence about him. The fact that his record didn't contain any loses rattled her. But what made her nervous the most was that he had seen her naked. This would be the first time she went against someone who she had slept with. Her last lawyer boyfriend had been in law school. Ever since that ended badly she stuck to other occupations.

She knew that beating someone who was deemed unbeatable would be difficult. But she also knew that she didn't shy away from a challenge. She would put her nervousness to the side and handle the meeting.

* * *

"I'm taking the lead on this meeting." Harvey told Mike as they entered the elevator of Florrick, Bastin and James. They were there to talk to the lawyer in charge of the tender offer for Barboza Insurance.

"And just how is that any different than the other hundreds of meetings we've had before?" Mike smirked.

"Just follow my lead wise-guy, ok?" Harvey replied as he led the way to the conference room. "Who is the lawyer on record again?"

"It's R. Monroe." Mike answered.

"Why haven't I heard of that lawyer before?"

"I looked into her and she is a lawyer from Los Angeles." Mike explained. "That's probably why you don't know her."

Harvey entered the conference room to see a familiar figure standing by the window. He immediately stopped, causing Mike to run into him.

"Harvey, what the hell man?" Mike asked.

* * *

"Hello Harvey." She smiled.

"Rebecca." Harvey smiled. "You're R. Monroe."

"And you're Harvey Specter." She smiled. "It's nice to officially meet you."

"You too."

She looked over. "Who is your friend?"

"Mike Ross." Mike held out his hand and they shook hands.

"Rebecca Monroe." She smiled. "Please, sit."

She waited until both of them sat down before she did. "So let me guess…your client doesn't want to be bought out and that's what brings you handsome gentlemen to see me today?"

She looked at Harvey, whom she assumed was running point on this meeting. But all he seemed to be capable of doing was staring at her like he was evaluating her. His gaze was intense and she had to look away in order to not be intimidated. So she looked over at Mike. She could see he was looking at Harvey like he had grown a second head.

"Mr. Ross, am I correct?" She asked, getting his attention.

"That's right." Mike nodded, sliding a folder across the table. "We filed a motion to block the tender offer."

"On what basis?" Rebecca asked, not even opening the folder.

"On the basis that even though your client owns all of the subsidiaries that own stock in Devore Industries, it isn't valid for them to make the tender offer in the first place." Mike explained.

"There isn't anything forbidding us from having the subsidiaries' shares counting towards our share count." Rebecca smiled.

"But there isn't anything saying it will count either." Mike pointed out, sliding another folder towards her. "We are prepared to offer your client this amount to sell back the shares."

She glanced at the offer and then looked at both Harvey and Mike. "My client will not settle."

"You have a legal obligation to take that to your client." Mike reminded her.

"My client has given me their proxy. He doesn't want to settle. He wants the company. So I guess we will just have to battle this out in front of the judge and have him rule." She nodded.

"We'll see you in court then." Harvey chimed in.

"It's a date that I look forward to." Rebecca said, staring at Harvey.

"Let's go." Harvey said to Mike as they stood up.

"Oh Harvey, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Rebecca asked.

* * *

"Meet me in the lobby." Harvey ordered Mike. Once Mike left, he closed the door. "You have some nerve. What the hell is this about? Some kind of trick?"

"No." She shook her head. "It isn't a trick. I swear."

"Did you know who I was that night? Or that you were taking on this case with my client?" He was pissed and felt like she was using him.

"I didn't know who you were. I just saw a very attractive man with no ring on his finger who was as interested in me as I was in him." She explained, getting up from the table and heading towards him. It wasn't long until there was practically no room left between them and he could feel his pulse increasing. He wanted desperately to believe her.

"As for the case, I didn't even get it assigned to me until the next day after you and I had our little…marathon session." She whispered in his ear.

"If you think that what happened last week will influence the way I handle this case, then you are dead wrong." He managed to say.

"Trust me, I wouldn't want to win this case just because you fell in love with me." She smirked. "That would take all the fun out of it."

"You're cocky." He laughed. "I like that."

"You're pretty cocky too." Her eyes diverted lower. "I like that."

Before he could think of the multitude of reasons why it was a bad idea, he turned and locked the conference room door. By the time he turned back around, Rebecca was already undoing his belt.

* * *

"What the hell took you so long?" Mike asked as Harvey approached him in the lobby. "It's been almost twenty minutes."

"We were just catching up." Harvey said, not stopping or slowing his gait as they left the building.

"So that was the woman from the bar last week, right? The one that has made you be in a good mood for a whole week? I thought it looked like her."

"Yeah. That was her." Harvey nodded, getting into the car. "So what?"

"Is there a reason why you went mute during the meeting you told me moments before that you were taking the lead on?" Mike asked.

"I don't have to explain myself to you." Harvey shook his head.

"You actually kind of do in this situation considering I jumped in and saved your ass from looking like a complete fool. What the hell happened back there?"

"Nothing happened." Harvey scoffed. "And you should know by now I never look like a fool."

"Did you sleep with her?"

"Yeah I did…last week. You know that."

"No. I mean just now." Mike questioned. "Did you sleep with her just now?"

"Why would you ask me that?" Harvey scoffed again.

"For one, your tie is crooked."

He quickly fixed his tie as he kept walking to the car. "Mike, I'm telling you, there is something about that woman…"

"Oh. I get it now. You're enamored by her." Mike laughed.

"I am not enamored by her." Harvey contested.

"Besotted? Smitten? Infatuated? I could go on…"

"Mike. Drop it." He ordered, getting into the car.

He saw Mike get in on the other side and knew from the look on his friends' face that there was no way he was dropping this.

"Well, well well…the great Harvey Specter finally like likes a woman." Mike smirked.

"Like likes?" Harvey rolled his eyes. "What is this? Junior high?"

"Do you want me to pass her a note during study hall asking if she likes you and then asking her to check yes or no?" Mike laughed. "Are you going to ask her to the prom?"

It took everything in him not to start yelling at Mike. "Let's just say I think you shouldn't leave me alone in a room with her again."

"Ok."

"I mean it, Mike." He looked over sternly. "Under no circumstances are you to leave me alone with her."

"Got it." Mike laughed. "But I have to say that it is nice to see you so flustered because of a woman. I've never seen that happen to you before."

He rolled his eyes and thought of a better way to get Mike back for his relentless teasing. "Hey Ray, pull over here. Mike will be walking back to the office."

"Harvey…it's like ten blocks back to the office." Mike objected.

"I know." Harvey smirked. "Enjoy your long walk. Maybe you can use it to think about why it isn't a smart idea to tease me about women."

* * *

Harvey stood outside the door, contemplating whether this was a good idea. "Screw it." He whispered, knocking. It didn't take long for the door to open.

"Harvey."

"Rebecca…" He greeted.

She looked surprised to see him for a split second before recovering. Then she shook her head and laughed softly. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you found out where I live."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have a reputation in this city for not respecting boundaries."

"You're one to talk considering what we did in your conference room today." He pointed out with a laugh.

She smirked. "Yes, but I didn't say I was any different than you in the respect. Come in." She motioned inside. "Do you want a drink?"

"Sure." He didn't see the harm in that as he walked into her penthouse. It was smaller than his, not that he was keeping score.

He watched her walk over to the mini bar and return with two glasses. She held hers up to toast so he clinked glasses before downing his drink in one big gulp. He then sat it down on a nearby counter.

"So what brings you by tonight?" She asked, gingerly sipping her own drink.

"The case."

"Ok. What about it?" She questioned. "Did you come back with another settlement offer that I can reject? Because that was fun and I'd really like to do it again."

"No." He chuckled. "I came here to tell you that you can't take my focus away from winning this just because we have been messing around. So whatever game you are playing won't work."

"I swear I'm not playing a game." She argued, coming up to stand closer to him. "But I am glad you won't be going easy on me. It wouldn't make it nearly as satisfying or fun when I beat you if you aren't giving it 100%."

He closed the remaining gap between them. "You of all people should know that I always give at least 110% in everything I do. I also always leave you satisfied."

She smiled. "Now who is trying to play games?"

"Don't dish it out if you can't take it." He smirked.

"You of all people should know that I can always take it any way you dish it out."

He was disappointed when she backed up and put more space between them.

"In all seriousness though, I don't consider this a game." She insisted. "This is my first case with my new firm. I'm not looking to do anything that will screw it up."

"It sure seems like a game though." He pointed out. "You're telling me I just happened to go into a bar and pick up the very lawyer who is against me in court one week later and I'm supposed to believe it is simply a coincidence?"

She smirked. "You need to check your facts, Harvey because I clearly picked you up in that bar."

He sighed, getting exasperated. "Does it matter who picked who up?"

"No. I guess not." She agreed. "I'll let your ego have this one. But seriously, I didn't know who you were that night. It was only my second day in New York City after moving here from LA. I just wanted to get out and blow off some steam that night before starting my new job the next day. And it wasn't until the next day that I got this case."

She went over to the table next to her couch and sat down her drink. "Once I realized it was opposite you I couldn't exactly go back and tell my boss I couldn't take it. Can you imagine how that conversation would have gone when he asked why I was saying no to my first case with the firm?"

"You have a point there." He conceded.

"I'm not trying to trick you and I'm not trying to make you lose focus on the case." She assured him.

He moved a couple steps closer to her. "So tell me this…why did you leave that morning before I woke up?"

"I had to be at work early that day."

"Bullshit." He called her out. He was excellent at reading people and could tell that wasn't the whole story. "What's the real reason?"

"Fine." She sighed. "If you must know, you're the first guy that I've just picked up randomly in a bar before and I don't do one-night stands. So when I woke up that morning, I freaked out and I left as soon as I could."

"I thought we already agreed that I picked you up that night." He smirked, moving closer to her.

"God, your ego is really so fragile that it can't handle being picked up by a woman?" She laughed.

"So you were embarrassed?" He surmised. "That's why you left?"

"I'm sure by now you realize the affect you have on women." She told him softly. "Don't even try to deny that."

"I'd never deny that." He smirked. "In fact I'm pretty proud of it."

She laughed and shook her head. "I bet you are. That morning I woke up first and I looked over at you while you were sleeping. I realized I didn't want to leave. But I also didn't peg you for the kind of guy who would be thrilled if I was still there in the morning. I didn't want you to kick me out. So I left voluntarily."

"I actually didn't want you to leave that morning." He told her, staring deeply into her eyes. "Just like I don't want to leave now."

"You probably should though. It isn't entirely appropriate for opposing counsel to keep sleeping together." She said softly.

"Yeah." He nodded, wrapping one arm around her waist. Slowly, he leaned in to kiss her. It didn't take long for her to return the kiss. "But who said anything about sleeping?"

"Bedroom." She whispered in between kisses. "Now."


	3. Chapter 3

Synchronicity

Chapter Three

The next day, Harvey sat in his office and thought about the events of the previous evening. He had a rule about not staying over at a woman's place so he left after they were done having sex. A part of him wondered if she was hurt by that, but he couldn't worry about those types of things. That's what people in relationships did, and he didn't want to do that. Right now they were just two people who were sleeping together. He could reconcile that in his mind.

He watched as Mike came in and wasn't happy about the look on the man's face.

"We have a giant problem." Mike sighed, throwing a file on Harvey's desk and sitting down.

"Well then what is the solution? Give me options." Harvey asked before opening the file.

"I don't think there are any options."

"Have I taught you nothing? There's always options." Harvey argued, reading the file. "Shit. And this is for real?"

"Yeah."

"Why can't clients stop shooting themselves in the foot?" Harvey yelled, throwing the file onto his desk angrily. "There's no way to save Richard's role as CEO if it gets out to the board that his wife sold some of their shares to a subsidiary of Devore Industries. They will ask for his head to be served to them on a silver platter. What the hell was she thinking?"

"I'm not sure and I don't know how we keep it quiet. If I found this, Rebecca could have too."

He thought about it for a moment. "Maybe we don't need to keep it quiet. If you can find precedent saying that a subsidiaries' shares don't count for a hostile takeover I think we get this taken care of without having to deal with Richard's issues."

"Ok. I'll focus on finding that precedent, but I've been trying and I haven't found it yet."

"Then work harder." Harvey commanded. "Because unless we find something they are sitting ducks for this takeover."

Donna came in. "Harvey, I have Rebecca on the phone for you."

"Thanks." He looked at Mike and then Donna. "You guys can leave now."

"He wants to take her call in private. That's so cute." Donna teased, leaving the room.

"You told me you didn't want to be left alone with her." Mike reminded.

"It's a phone call. I think I can handle that."

"Famous last words." Mike chuckled, getting up and leaving.

Harvey took a deep breath before picking up the phone. "Harvey Specter."

"Hey there." Rebecca greeted.

"Is this a business call or personal call?" Harvey had to ask.

"Business of course." She laughed. "If I wanted it to be personal I would have called your cell phone."

"Ah. But you don't have my cell number."

"Wanna bet? 212-853-234…"

"Ok, you've made your point." He scoffed. Apparently she had found out what his cell was. It shouldn't have surprised him. It was probably payback for him finding out her address last night. "So what can I do for you?"

"I want to have a meeting with you tomorrow to discuss the case." She paused. "And you should bring Mike Ross along. We probably need a chaperone."

He couldn't help but laugh since he had the same idea. "I could do that but why do you want another meeting instead of waiting for court in two days?"

"Now see if I told you the reason then I wouldn't need the meeting."

"You can be honest with me." He smirked. "You just want to see me again and you don't want to wait until court." He heard her laugh.

"Actually if I wanted to see you again, I'd just show up at your place."

"What makes you think I would even be home? Maybe I would be out on the town." This conversation was turning into less and less of a business call but he didn't mind. It wasn't often he met a woman who was this cheeky or bold. There was something about Rebecca that just kept drawing him back, like a magnet. In the back of his mind he was screaming to stop thinking about her, but he couldn't help it.

"I guess that would just have to be risk I'd have to take…if I wanted to see you again." There was a pause. "So are we set for a case meeting tomorrow?"

"Yeah." He agreed, remembering that was the reason for the call in the first place. "How about 11 at my firm this time?"

"Sounds perfect. Bye Harvey."

* * *

Rebecca stood outside Harvey's door, wondering for the tenth time if this was a bad idea. It seemed like a great idea after she got off the phone with him earlier today, but she was aware that this could turn out to be disastrous. Taking a deep breath, she figured she only lived once. "Whatever happens will happen." Her knock on his door was strong and powerful in an attempt to disguise her insecurity.

It only took him a moment to answer. He was still in his suit except for his jacket. She kept one arm behind her back.

"Good evening." She smiled.

He smirked. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised you're here. Did you really miss me that much that you couldn't even wait until tomorrow?"

"I actually thought maybe we could have a few drinks." She suggested, bringing a new bottle of Macallan 18 out from behind her back. She ignored his taunt about missing him. She had done her homework about Harvey Specter and knew that he didn't do relationships. So she had to be careful not to get too attached to him. If she was smart she would simply walk away but she couldn't help it. There was something about this man that drew her in against her better judgement and it wasn't just the incredible sex.

"Come on in." He stepped aside to let her into his place.

She went inside and sat the bottle on the counter. When she turned around Harvey was right behind her. "I want to make something perfectly clear. There will no business talk tonight. We keep the business completely separate from the personal. Ok?"

"That's perfectly fine with me." He leaned in to kiss her.

"Nope. Not yet." She moved away before his lips landed on hers. "That bottle wasn't the only thing I brought you."

"What else is there?" He scoffed. "You have something else hidden in that coat you're wearing?"

"Nope." She shook her head slowly. "There's nothing in my coat." She undid the coat and shrugged it off, showing that all she had on underneath was a matching black lace bra and panties. "And there's practically nothing underneath my coat either. I seem to have forgotten to get dressed before I left home. I hope that's not a problem for you."

She watched his face as he looked her up and down. A smile formed on her face when she heard him softly moan.

"Fuck." He whispered. "It must be my lucky night."

She smirked. "It can be, if you stop staring at me and do something about it."

There was a look of desire in his eyes she hadn't seen before and it wasn't long before he hurried over to her, picked her up and put her over his shoulder caveman style.

"Harvey! Put me down!" She giggled.

"What? You wanted me do something and to stop staring." He laughed, gently smacking her ass as he carried her into his bedroom. "I'm just doing what you asked."

* * *

An hour later Harvey let out a deep sigh of relaxation and looked over at Rebecca. "What do you say we open up the Macallan and have that drink you mentioned earlier?"

"Sounds good to me." She smiled at him.

"I have a strict rule about not drinking or eating in my bed." He explained. "So why don't we move this back out to the living room?"

"Ok." She nodded. "I'll be right out."

He got out of bed and slid his boxers back on before going out to the living room. He picked up two glasses from the mini bar and took them over to where the bottle was on the counter. Then he opened the bottle and poured two drinks. By the time they were poured, Rebecca appeared at his side.

Looking over, he saw that she had put on his white dress shirt which had been hastily discarded on the bedroom floor earlier. It was big on her but she had the sleeves rolled up and it looked like she only buttoned two of the buttons. It showed off her cleavage and her toned legs perfectly.

"What?" She asked innocently as she took one of the glasses. "Don't tell me you also have a strict rule about this?" She motioned to the shirt.

"Actually I do." He smirked, looking her up and down again. He hated it when women put on his shirts. Since he didn't have women stick around long-term, he didn't want to associate his clothes with them. But looking at Rebecca with her messy hair, her beautiful face and rocking body he realized she looked amazing in his shirt and he wouldn't mind forever associating that shirt with this memory.

"It was either this or I wear nothing." She pointed out.

"I would have preferred you be wearing nothing."

She reached over and gave him a quick kiss before whispering. "Maybe later if you're a good boy." Then she went over to the couch and sat down, tucking her legs underneath her. "Are you coming?"

He had to stop himself from laughing at her choice of words. "I'll be right there." He took a deep breath, took the bottle and said a silent prayer before going to sit next to her because this woman might very well be the death of him.

"So since we can't talk about the case, what should we talk about?" She asked.

"I don't know." He shrugged.

"Ok. Why don't I tell you what I know about you?"

"Go ahead." He smirked. He doubted she knew much about him other than what she could find out from the random articles that had been published about him.

"Well I know that you have been at your law firm for your entire career, except for the stint you did at the DA's office where you worked for Cameron Dennis and you've had the same secretary for over ten years, which leads me to think you are extremely loyal to those around you. You are incredibly arrogant about your good looks and ability to practice law, but people let you get away with it because you have the goods to back it all up. You pride yourself on always winning your cases and making sure you don't have to go to trial often because anything can happen during a trial. You like being in control of the variables. You are called the best closer in the city, though now that I'm here that title is being called into question. You prefer to exclusively drink Macallan 18 and you have a very deep love for both cars and records."

He had to admit he was impressed. He didn't think she would have found out that much about him. "You've certainly done your research."

"Of course." She smirked. "I've got a guy who's good at that kind of thing."

"How do you already have a guy in New York City?" He chuckled. "You haven't been here that long."

"I'm just that good." She smirked. "But I'm sure you have your own guy who does this sort of thing for you."

It was true. He had Vanessa do research on her after their first settlement talks. "Of course I do. So I know that you were first in your class at Stanford Law. You were briefly engaged to your college sweetheart before you went your separate ways. You were the youngest person to make senior partner at your law firm in LA and your case record would make almost anyone jealous. It's true that you are a damn fine closer, but I think I'll still be able to retain my title. And your father is longtime California Senator Samuel Monroe."

"Yeah." She nodded. "Those are all true facts, except for you retaining your title."

"What I have failed to figure out is why you left such a good career in LA to come to New York and basically start all over."

He watched as the expression on her face turned from one of enjoyment because of the game they seemed to be playing to one of sadness. There were only a few reasons why someone would move across the country all of a sudden. He decided to start with the most obvious reason. "There was a guy, wasn't there?"

She sighed, downing the rest of the drink. "Yeah, but not in the way you think. It was my father." She paused, staring into her glass. "I had to get away from him. He's not the man I thought he was. I mean, I've never thought of him as a great guy and Lord knows he's not been a good father…but it's hard to look at your parent the same way when you find out just how selfish and traitorous they really are."

Hearing her talk about her father brought up memories of his own mother and her betrayal of their family and his father. He knew exactly what she meant and what she must be feeling. He was sorry for bringing it up now.

She shook it off, closing her eyes for a moment. When she opened them back up again she put a smile on her face. But he could still see the sadness in her eyes and truly felt bad about bringing up a topic that was obviously a sore spot for her.

He watched as she poured herself another. She took a large sip and then placed it on the table next to the couch.

"I'd rather not talk about my father right now, considering I'm practically naked." She crawled over to his side of the couch and took the glass from his hand before setting it down.

She tried to kiss him but he gently grabbed her shoulders.

"What?" She asked, clearly getting annoyed.

"I shouldn't have brought it up." He told her. "You're upset now."

"You didn't know." She sighed, sitting back down. "But I'm going to be even more upset if my father manages to ruin our night."

He smiled. "Then we should make sure that doesn't happen."


	4. Chapter 4

Synchronicity

Chapter Four

Rebecca walked down the hall of Pearson Specter Litt with her briefcase in her hand. She was told where Harvey's office was when she got off the elevator and stopped at the desk of his secretary. "Hello."

"Hello."

"I'm Rebecca Malone. I have an appointment with Harvey and Mike." She announced to the red head behind the desk.

"So you're Rebecca. Hi. I'm Donna." She smiled.

"It's nice to meet you." She couldn't help but feel like Donna was somehow evaluating her for some reason.

"You have no idea how nice it is to finally put a face to a name." Donna said after a pause.

"Why? Does he talk about me a lot?" She laughed.

"He has, actually."

She wasn't sure what to make of that comment, but it did make her want to smile. Rebecca looked at her watch. It was now officially 11am. "Is it ok if I go in to his office?" She watched Donna stand up.

"Follow me." Donna commanded as they walked into Harvey's office. "Harvey, Ms. Malone is here."

"Donna, Mike isn't here yet." Harvey said, looking first at her and then at Donna.

"I'm sure he will be here soon and you two can play together nicely while you wait for him." Donna smiled before leaving the room.

She could see that Harvey was squirming and decided to have some fun with him. "So do you want me to go out and talk to Donna some more until Mike gets here so he can be our chaperone?"

"No." Harvey said too quickly. "You don't have to do that."

"Are you sure?" She smirked. "Because you look pretty jumpy being alone in a room with me. Are you afraid you won't be able to control yourself around me and you might be tempted to do certain things to me, like bend me over your desk?" She looked at him and saw he had his eyebrow raised.

"I think I can manage to control myself around you."

"You sure couldn't last night." She baited him. "Oh. But maybe you aren't worried about that. Maybe you are worried that I can't control myself around you and that I might be tempted to do certain things to you." She glanced out the glass door at Donna. "Do you think she would notice if I disappeared under your desk for a few minutes?"

He scoffed. "She's very good at her job. I think she would notice something like that."

"Do you wanna test that theory?" She winked. "You know I would make it very fun for you."

"That's enough." He laughed. "What happened to keeping this meeting professional?"

"Oh as soon as Mike walks through that door, this starts being a business meeting and I'll be nothing but the consummate professional. Until then though, I can get as personal as I want."

He got up from his seat and walked around the desk to her. Then he leaned in and whispered. "You might want to rethink that. Just so you know, Donna listens in to all of my private conversations in this office."

She laughed. "No way. You're only trying to rattle me." There was no way that could be true. If it was, she just made a huge fool out of herself.

"If you don't believe me, then watch this." His voice went to a normal volume. "Hey Donna, if you are listening call my cell phone."

Within seconds Harvey's cell rang. He showed her the caller id and it said Donna. She stopped smirking and looked over at Donna, who looked like she was about to start laughing. It was beyond embarrassing that she was offering to give Harvey a blow job in earshot of his secretary.

"That's not entirely fair." She finally told Harvey.

"You did try to rattle me first." He smirked, winking at her.

It didn't take her long to think of a way to recover. She leaned in close to his ear. "Now if I was really trying to rattle you as you said I was, then I would have just mentioned how incredibly sore my whole body is or how I can still taste you from last night. Or I would tell you how badly I wanna taste you again right now."

When she pulled away from him, she could see that she had indeed rattled him. He was simply staring at her with narrowed eyes. The desire from last night was prominent in his eyes. A moment later, he closed the gap between them and started whispering into her ear.

"What am I going to do with you?"

She leaned closer to his ear. "Oh I don't know. The possibilities are seemingly endless. I'm sure a creative guy like yourself could figure something out, unfortunately I just saw Mike enter so this has to be a business meeting now." She smiled as she pulled away from Harvey.

"Mr. Ross, nice to see you again." She smiled at Mike. "So which one of you is running point on the meeting this time?"

"I am." They both said at the same time.

She looked back and forth between the two of them. "While I feel incredibly flattered that both you gentleman want to take me on, I only need to know which one of you I'm talking to today."

"You're talking to me." Harvey commanded.

"Very well then." She nodded, taking out a file and handing it to Harvey. "I've done some digging into your current CEO and have discovered some things that are going to make your client more willing to settle this dispute rather than dragging this out in court."

Harvey sighed as he looked through the file. She had discovered what Richard's wife did with the shares of the company. And since Mike hadn't found any precedent against subsidiaries counting towards a hostile takeover bid, they were vulnerable. And it seemed Rebecca was aware of that fact too.

"So what are you suggesting?" He asked.

She handed him another file. "This is our first and final settlement offer. Take it to your client but make sure to let him know that it has to be signed by 7pm tonight or else it expires and I'll just see you in court tomorrow, where I will win. And when my client takes over the company, the first thing he is going to do is remove the current CEO. As always it was a pleasure gentlemen. But I must get going."

Without looking back, she exited the office. While passing Donna's desk, she threw a smile. "It was nice to meet you Donna."

"You too." Donna replied.

"What's the offer?" Mike asked as Harvey was reading it.

He sighed. "Richard sways the board towards voting for the takeover the way it was offered originally. He gets to keep being CEO but they have to switch firms and let Rebecca represent them from now on."

"Harvey…"

"Have you found any precedent we can use against them?"

"No." Mike sighed. "We can't let them take our client."

"If we don't have any precedent then we're sitting ducks." Harvey shook his head. "If this thing goes to court we'll lose. The takeover will happen, they will kick Richard out and take our client anyway."

"So you just want to give up?" Mike asked incredulously. "That's not like you."

"I don't know what else to do in this case, Mike!" He yelled.

"You've always said that if someone points a gun at your head you do any one of 146 other things than give up."

"That doesn't apply here though." Harvey pointed out.

"Holy shit." Donna spoke up from the doorway. "Rebecca is like the female version of Harvey. I like her."

"I'm glad someone does." Harvey scoffed. "Because I'm not fond of her right now."

"Oh that's just because she managed to beat you and your ego is bruised." Donna explained.

"Donna, get out please." He demanded.

"Fine." She rolled her eyes and left.

"Ok, here's what we are going to do. We've got three hours to find something we could use in court tomorrow. If we can't find anything, we take the deal to Richard and see what he says."

"Harvey I don't think you're thinking clearly on this because of the fact that it is Rebecca on the other side." Mike pointed out.

"I don't want to hear it." He yelled.

"If it was any other lawyer you've had more tricks up your sleeve. You'd even look into her personally to see if you could get leverage. Now because it is her you're willing to roll over and play dead? She means that much to you that you won't even try to…"

"Shut up and get to work. I know what I am doing." Harvey pointed towards the door.

"Fine." Mike stormed out.

Mike was right. Normally he would try to find leverage on the other lawyer and use it to get them to back down. But he didn't want to do that to Rebecca. So it looked like he was going to lose his first case.

* * *

Rebecca was typing on her laptop when she saw Harvey standing in the doorway of her office. She looked at the clock and smiled. 6:55pm. Something told her that he was there with a signed settlement agreement.

"Hello Harvey."

"Here's the settlement." He threw it on her desk. "Richard signed it. Congratulations. You win. You've not only beaten me but have also taken my client."

She watched him turn and start to walk out so she snapped her laptop shut. "Harvey. Stop."

"What?" He turned around. "Did you want to take something else from me while you're at it? You want one of my cars? How about my penthouse? You want to drain my bank account too?"

"This isn't personal." She insisted. "Why are you acting like it is?"

"You're taking a $3 million a year client from me. It sure as hell is personal!"

"It isn't personal. I swear! It's just business." She touched his arm but he moved away like he had been burned.

"Harvey…"

"Just leave me alone." He left her office and she rushed after him.

She didn't want to air their dirty laundry in front of anyone in the firm who was still here so she waited until they got on the elevator to say anything else. "This was not personal and you know it. So why are you acting like I stabbed you in the back?"

"Because you Goddamn did and you know it!" He yelled. "Just admit it! You screwed me in more than one way this week!"

She pressed the stop button for the elevator, causing it to rattle before coming to a stop. "I didn't stab you in the back and I won't admit to something that I didn't do. It isn't my fault that your client shit the bed and created the situation you found yourself in. I only used the information about the client that I found to get my own client the best settlement possible because that's what a good lawyer does. You would have done the same thing if the tables had been turned and you know it. So grow up and deal with it like a man instead of a petulant child."

"Does a good lawyer also screw opposing counsel every chance she gets in an attempt to blindside them before screwing them in another way and taking away their client? Because it seems like you whored yourself out to win the case."

She couldn't believe he went there. Before she could help herself she slapped him across the face. "You don't get to accuse me of that."

"I just call 'em like I see 'em." He told her.

"And I have to call 'em like I see 'em. You're nothing but an asshole and a gigantic man-child. You can't handle being beaten, especially by a woman. So if you have to convince yourself that I did something wrong, go ahead. We both know you're wrong though. And congratulations Harvey. I didn't try to make this case personal but you just did. Now I'm actually glad that I beat you and ruined your record."

She turned away from him so he wouldn't see she was about ready to cry. She pressed the emergency stop button again and felt the elevator start up again. Seeing they were approaching the 47th floor she pressed the seven button. Seconds later the doors to the elevator opened and she practically ran from the elevator to get away from him.

* * *

Harvey banged his head against the wall of the elevator and then punched the side wall. He couldn't believe he just said those things to her. "Shit."

* * *

The next day, Rebecca was on her way to her office when she noticed Xavier waiting at the elevator with two cups of coffee.

"This is for you." He smiled, handing her a coffee. "It's my way of helping you celebrate your first win for the firm. I saw the settlement you negotiated. Great job bringing in a new client on your first case."

"Thanks." She smiled, but she wasn't happy. That settlement cost her Harvey and she didn't feel like celebrating it. She actually wanted to rip up the settlement all together, but that wasn't something she could do. So she was stuck.

"Is everything ok?" He asked. "You should be walking on air. You defeated the great and powerful Harvey Specter. Everyone in this town thought that was impossible. This is going to turn you into a legend around here."

"Everything's great." She lied. "I'm just tired from some late nights. But thank you very much for the coffee. I'm sure it will wake me right up and I'll be fine."

"If you need anything else, let me know!" Xavier called after her as she made her way to her office.

Last night, after she calmed down she ran through her options. She could go over to Harvey's and apologize for slapping him, hope that he had calmed down and try to talk things out. Or she could avoid him for the rest of her life. Given the fact that he had basically accused her of using sex to trick him into agreeing to a settlement, she wasn't sure he would be receptive to talking things out.

Besides that, Harvey didn't have a reputation for being in relationships and she wasn't looking for casual fun. She wanted to know that casual fun was leading to something meaningful. Perhaps it would be better if she just let him go now before she got any more attached.

* * *

Harvey brushed past both Mike and Donna as he stormed into his office. He wasn't happy Mike followed him.

"Turn around and leave if it isn't about a new case, Mike." He warned.

"Fine. I'll come back later then." Mike sighed, leaving.

A few minutes later, Donna entered.

"Same goes for you Donna. If this isn't about work, turn around and leave right now."

"Oh you should know by now that works on Mike but it doesn't work with me." Donna reminded him as she sat down. "Wanna tell me about it?"

"Not really." He opened his laptop and started typing to make her think he was busy. But the only thing he was typing was the same sentence over and over. _I'm an idiot._

"Ok. Let me guess. Against your better judgement you let Rebecca get under your skin. At some point yesterday you panicked because you realized that she has the potential to mean something to you so you lashed out. You also lashed out because she managed to best you and that hurt your ego. And now you think she won't talk to you. Am I right? I mean, of course I'm right. I'm Donna. I'm always right."

He stopped typing and looked over at her. She was one of his dearest friends and he loved her as such, but right now she was a gigantic pain in his ass. Everything she said was true.

"I'll take that as a yes." She smiled. "How bad was it?"

"Pretty damn bad." He sighed.

"Well the way I see it you have two choices. You can either avoid her for the rest of your life or you can get over yourself and apologize so you can try to work through this."

"That will be all, Donna."

"Just consider apologizing." She pleaded. "I wanna keep her around. She's fun."

He couldn't help but laugh as she left.


	5. Chapter 5

Synchronicity

Chapter Four

Rebecca was sitting at dinner with her father. He had been calling her almost every day since she moved to New York and she finally agreed to have dinner with him in a public place. Now she was regretting it. All he wanted to do was act like their last argument back in California hadn't happened.

"So I said I wasn't going to help sponsor his bill for endangered ducks and the man actually had the audacity to try and get me kicked off the ways and means committee." Sam Malone laughed. "Do you know what I did then?"

"Did you kill all of the endangered ducks as payback and then cover it up for years?" She asked emotionlessly as she pushed her broccoli around on the plate.

"Rebecca, I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you." He sighed. "The least you could do is engage with me here."

"I agreed to have dinner with you in a public place so that you can keep up with the appearance of being a devoted father." She pointed out. "I never said I was going act like a devoted daughter during said dinner."

"Ah. That's the lawyer in you coming out." He laughed. "Ok. Lesson learned…I should have negotiated better."

"The joke's on you though. There's actually nothing that can make me act like a devoted daughter towards you." She told him. As soon as she said that, she looked behind her father and saw Harvey enter the restaurant with Mike right behind him. As much as she hated herself for it, her heart skipped a beat at the sight of him. She was hoping he wouldn't notice her. But her hopes of Harvey not seeing her were dashed when he turned his head and their eyes met.

It had been over two weeks since she last talked to him. Actually it had been 17 days, 1 hour and 28 minutes. But who was counting? Although she considered making the first move with him and trying to see if they could work past his tantrum, she realized it wasn't her place to do it.

He was the one who hurt her the most, so he would have to be the one to make the first move. Since he hadn't made the first move, she realized whatever it was she had with him was over. She was resolved not to talk to him.

She watched as Harvey and Mike got seated at a table on the other side of the restaurant. Harvey was seated with his back to her and stared at him for a moment.

Right after he verbally exploded on her she was sorry and felt like maybe it was her fault he was so upset. It wasn't until a few days later that she realized she did nothing wrong. She was only doing her job. And if he wanted to paint her out to be the bad guy then that was his own issue that had nothing to do with her.

But his words still hurt. She didn't appreciate being accused of whoring herself out or using him to somehow win the case.

First of all, his accusation didn't even make sense. She won the case because his client made a mistake that she was able to exploit. Second, she wasn't the only aggressor. He was just as much of a willing participant as she was. He even showed up at her place once so it wasn't just her who was initiating sex.

Lastly, she didn't understand why he was so angry with her about the case. It was just business to her. While she would have been upset if she had lost, she wouldn't have lashed out at him the way he did to her because that wouldn't have been fair to him.

He was with Mike tonight, so maybe they would stay on the other side of the restaurant and leave her alone. Besides, he hadn't made any effort to reach out to her since he basically implied she was a whore. So maybe he would just ignore her here too.

To get her mind off of Harvey, she looked at her father.

"I know you are mad at me, but it was for your own good."

"Oh that's bullshit and you know it." She told him. "You didn't do it for me. You did it so that I wouldn't find out what happened and hate you. But that's what happened so you need to deal with it."

"I won't allow you to take that tone with me." He warned her.

"I'll take whatever Goddamn tone I want with you because I'm not a child you can push around or lie to anymore." She whispered harshly.

* * *

"Why don't you go over there?" Mike asked after they were seated.

"Where?" Harvey questioned, playing dumb.

"To Rebecca." Mike answered, rolling his eyes. "She was looking over here a moment ago. Maybe she wants you to go over there."

"She doesn't." He shook his head.

"How do you know?" Mike chuckled.

"Because I was horrible to her." He explained. "If the situation was reversed, I wouldn't want to talk to her."

"Maybe she does want to talk to you but she thinks you don't want to talk to her."

"Do you ever get tired of acting like you are in junior high?" Harvey laughed.

"I'm just saying that…"

"I wouldn't even know what to say to her." He admitted, cutting his friend off mid-sentence.

"You could start with hello and then go into an apology. That usually works."

"You don't understand." He sighed.

"Ok. Then try me." Mike challenged. "Tell me what I don't understand. Because I know that for the past few weeks you have been moping around like someone ran over your dog. I suspect it has something to do with whatever happened between you and Rebecca after the settlement agreement."

"I said some things I shouldn't have…and some things that weren't true." He volunteered.

"Then apologize so she can forgive you and things can go back to the way they were before." Mike chuckled. "It isn't rocket science."

"Ok hot shot." Harvey scoffed. "Let's just say I apologize and she happens to forgive me. Then what happens? I'll tell you what happens. We end up in a relationship."

"Why is that such a horrible thing? Relationships are a normal part of life."

"Not in my life." Harvey objected.

Mike sighed. "There is going to come a point in your life where you will regret not putting yourself out there for someone. I'd hate for Rebecca to be the one you regret not trying to be with."

"Like I said earlier, you don't understand." He smirked.

"No…I guess I don't." Mike surrendered. "You obviously like this woman. Why can't you just see where that leads without putting a label on it?"

He had to admit that Mike had a point with that argument. "But she's with someone tonight."

"First of all, the guy looks old enough to be her father." Mike laughed. "Second, I'm not suggesting you go over there and start kissing her. I'm just suggesting you try to talk to her."

He looked over at her and then back at Mike. "Ok. I'll go try to talk to her."

* * *

"You will have to let go of this grudge against me at some point and time." Sam told her.

"No, I don't have to do that. Ever." She insisted. "It isn't like you ruined my favorite sweater in the washing machine or embarrassed me in front of my friends. You did something that was fundamentally wrong and it hurt me. But instead of taking responsibility for it like a man, you hid it from me for years like a coward." It was at this moment she saw Harvey approaching the table and groaned.

"Excuse me, I don't mean to interrupt, but I'm Harvey Specter. I was wondering if I could have a moment with Rebecca." Harvey spoke to her father.

"Harvey Specter? I think I know that name." Sam held out his hand. "I'm Rebecca's father, Samuel Malone."

"Nice to meet you." Harvey shook the man's hand.

"Now I remember you. Your reputation precedes you." Sam said. "I heard you had a perfect record until you met my daughter and she bested you."

"Well she reminded me that no one is perfect." Harvey replied with a tight smile. "Do you mind if I steal her away for a moment?"

She put her napkin down on the plate. "I actually don't have anything to say to you, Harvey. And you're interrupting dinner with my father, which is rude because I don't get to see him very often as it is. So please leave."

"Rebecca…"

"Please leave now unless you want me to make a scene." She said.

Without another word he went back to his table.

"I thought you said there was nothing that could make you act like a devoted daughter." He laughed. "You must be even angrier with Harvey than you are with me. What did he do to deserve that?"

"It's complicated. Can we drop it please?" She pleaded.

"What did he do to you?"

"Nothing. Ok?" She sighed, realizing her father wasn't going to let this go. "Look, I'm not feeling well. I need to go home." She got up and picked her purse up. "Goodbye dad. I'd say let's do this again sometime but I really don't want to." She didn't even wait for him to say goodbye back before heading out of the restaurant.

There was a slight chill in the air tonight and she wrapped her arms around herself as she walked down the street. Once she got a few dozen feet away from the restaurant she stopped. It was then she smelled Harvey's cologne and knew he followed her out here. She figured he would. He apparently had something on his mind so it would be better to get it over with as soon as possible.

"What do you want?" She asked gruffly, turning to face him. He didn't respond, he just put his jacket around her shoulders. She was confused by the kind gesture but didn't let it show.

"Did you leave just now because of me or him?"

"Both of you." She answered honestly. "But mostly him."

"He seems like a piece of work."

"You have no idea." She sighed. "Ok, you wanted a few moments of my time. Here they are. What's going on?"

Harvey looked at the car that pulled up on the street next to them. "Get in and I'll take you back to your place. I'll give you a ride home and we can talk on the way."

She wasn't sure that was a great idea and he seemed to understand her hesitance.

"Look, I don't want to fight with you again. Let me give you a ride so we can talk and I know you get back home safely."

"Fine." She sighed, getting in when he opened the car door.

They were halfway back to her place and he had yet to say anything to her. He had thought about this moment plenty of times. Hell, he had even dreamed about it a few times. But now that he had her here he wasn't sure what to say.

There were many times he thought about picking up the phone to call her and apologize, or go over to her place to apologize. But he always stopped himself because Donna was right about something. He knew that Rebecca had the ability to mean a lot to him and he wasn't sure what to do about that.

He figured if he gave it some more time she would stop invading his thoughts at random times of the day. But that wasn't happening. It was actually getting worse and he was thinking about her more. His dreams were invaded by her every night. He wondered what she was up to and if she was seeing anyone else. The thought of her with another man made him crazy.

So when he saw her tonight he knew this was his chance to talk to her. It was too much of a coincidence for them to end up at the same restaurant at the same time. Mike was right. He had to take advantage of the opportunity.

"As much as I don't mind sitting here in silence, if you have something to say now would be the time to do it before we get back to my place." She reminded him.

"How have you been?" That wasn't what he wanted to say but it was the first thing that came out of his mouth and he inwardly groaned at his awkwardness. He was Harvey Specter. There wasn't supposed to be anyone who made him nervous…especially not a woman.

"I'm fine." She answered. "Is that all?"

"No." He shook his head. He was having trouble making himself apologize, even though he knew she deserved one.

"Harvey I'm sorry I slapped you." She blurted out suddenly. "I shouldn't have done that."

"It's ok." He nodded. There was no doubt in his mind that he deserved the slap. "I deserved it."

"Of course you deserved it." She scoffed. "What I mean is I should have instead kneed you in the groin a couple of times."

He wasn't expecting that and it caught him completely off guard. She was obviously still incredibly mad at him for what happened and she had every right to be angry. He was still angry with himself.

"Rebecca…"

"No. You didn't want to be the first one to talk so let me talk first. Harvey, you implied that I whored myself out to you in order to execute some kind of twisted strategy to win the case. Because God forbid I was just sleeping with you because I liked you and I thought you liked me. Of course it had to be some kind of trick, right? I had to have some kind of ulterior motive. I mean you had a perfect record of wins until I came along. So of course I couldn't have simply beaten you just because I'm a better lawyer or I just got lucky with the circumstances of the case. In your mind it had to be because I tricked you. I'm honestly surprised you didn't try to sue me for practicing some form of witchcraft on you."

He watched as she went on this tirade against him and saw her get angrier as she went on. "Rebecca…"

"Look, it doesn't matter." She sighed, removing his jacket from her shoulders and placing it between them in the backseat. "I'm over it now and I'm over you. So we're good. There's no need for us to talk anymore."

The car stopped in front of her building and he watched her open the door to get out. He hurried out his side and followed her into the lobby of her building.

"Leave me alone." She asked quietly.

"I can't do that." He told her.

"And why the hell not?" She sighed.

"Because you may be over it now but I'm not and I'm not over you." He admitted, causing her to stop and turn to look at him. "I don't apologize often. In fact I think I can count the number of times I've apologized in the last three years on one hand. It's not because I'm arrogant though. I simply don't believe in admitting when I'm wrong. It seems like a waste of time when the other person already knows you were wrong. But I am sorry about everything I said to you. I shouldn't have made it personal like that."

"No you shouldn't have." She agreed, studying his face intently.

"I shouldn't have accused you of whoring yourself out to me in order to distract me. It was a below the belt hit and was completely inappropriate. It also wasn't true. You beat me fair and square. I didn't like it, but that was the truth. You bested me. In that moment I had to convince myself it wasn't my fault so I took it out on you. That was wrong."

"Yeah. It was wrong." She agreed. "Thank you."

He was confused when she turned and walked towards the elevator. He walked after her. "Wait. That's it?"

"I appreciate you having the courage to say that since I imagine it wasn't easy for you." She told him.

"Rebecca…"

"What do you want from me, Harvey?" She chuckled, turning to look at him. "You apologized and I accepted it. Let's just leave it at that."

"What I want is…"

"You want what we had before." She guessed. "So that's why you're here."

"It's not why I'm here." He assured her. "I'm here because you deserved an apology. But I'd be lying if I didn't say I'd be ok with going back to what we were doing before…if you are too." He said, starting to smirk.

"You want to go back to just sleeping with each other." She sighed. "See I'm not ok with that." She smirked back, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "I'm so much more than just someone for you to fuck on every surface in your penthouse."

"Yes, you certainly are." He replied after a moment. God he had missed the way she talked to him. He took a deep breath as he prepared what he said next. "How about we have dinner together tomorrow and see if we have more in common than just physical attraction?"

He saw her contemplating it. As she contemplated it, she looked him up and down a couple of times.

"Dinner, my place, tomorrow at 7:30." She said as the elevator doors opened. "Don't be late."

"Oh I won't." He promised as the doors closed.


	6. Chapter 6

Synchronicity

Chapter Six

Rebecca worked on getting everything ready in the kitchen, occasionally glancing at the clock. It was 7:20, which meant Harvey should be arriving at any moment. She still wasn't sure why she agreed to having dinner with him. Maybe she could claim temporary insanity. Hearing him apologize melted her heart even though she had been trying to stay strong. It affected her. And when he said he wasn't over her it gave her butterflies in her stomach.

She wasn't really over him. It was just a lie she told on the off chance it would hurt his ego. She knew she couldn't get her hopes up for a long term relationship with him. He would eventually get tired of her and move on. But maybe she should just enjoy what she could get while she could get it and take it day by day.

There was a knock on her door and she looked at the clock. 7:28. At least he was true to his word and wasn't late. She wiped her hands on her apron before taking it off. Taking a deep breath, she walked over to the door and opened it.

Harvey was standing there with a small smile on his face. He had obviously gone home to change because he was wearing black pants and a dark blue shirt with the first two buttons undone. It took everything she had not to jump him in the doorway but she stopped herself.

"Hi." She greeted.

"Hi." He greeted back. "You look great."

"What? This old thing?" She laughed. She had chosen a black bandage dress for tonight and wore her hair up. "Thank you. Come in." She stood off to the side so he could come inside.

"Dinner smells good." He said, going into the kitchen with her.

She blushed. "I enjoy cooking, but I don't do it often simply because it seems a waste to cook just for myself."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Everything is almost ready." She said, looking around. "But if you want, you could pour us some drinks and maybe pick some music?"

"Consider it done." He left the kitchen to get everything settled.

She turned her back on him and took a couple of deep breaths to calm down. This was just dinner with Harvey. She could handle this. She relaxed when she heard him put on some soft jazz.

"You have a nice collection of music." He said.

"Thanks." Everything was done so she started taking things out to the table. She started with the salad bowl and then went back for the mashed potatoes and the steaks. After putting those on the table she noticed Harvey was staring at her intently.

"What?" She laughed.

"Nothing." He smirked, moving closer to her. Before she knew what was happening he had his arm around her waist and was lightly kissing her neck.

"I…worked really hard on dinner." She managed to say. "If you don't stop that we won't be eating for a while."

He continued kissing her neck a few more times before he stopped. "You're right. We should eat while everything is hot."

Harvey had pulled out her chair for her so she sat down. Then she watched him sit down and start putting food on his plate.

"I hope you like everything." She said. "I wasn't sure what kind of food you'd want."

"It looks great." He assured her.

* * *

"Everything was delicious." He smiled as he helped her clear the table. He couldn't remember the last time he had eaten such a good, home-cooked meal. And the company was excellent too. Up until now, they hadn't really taken much time to really talk about things. But during dinner they had gotten to know each other better. Although he wouldn't admit it, he was becoming more and more smitten with her. She was the total package.

She was sexy, smart and funny. She loved movies and they had the same taste in music. She could cook. But most importantly, she could not only put up with his cockiness but she could dish it right back to him. She also wasn't afraid to yell at him when he was wrong.

"I'm glad you liked it. I make a really good chicken parmesan too."

Hearing chicken parmesan reminded him of his mother and brought up many memories he would rather bury. Looking over at her, he realized he must have been making a weird face because she was staring at him strangely.

"You don't like chicken parmesan?"

"It used to be my favorite." He told her, hoping she would let it drop and not ask why.

"But not anymore." She reasoned.

"No."

"Ok." She nodded. "Well I also make a mean lasagna from scratch if you ever wanna try that."

He smiled, relieved that she dropped it without asking more questions. "I may just have to take you up on that sometime." He trapped her between his body and the sink, putting a hand on each side of the counter so she couldn't escape. They were staring into each other's eyes and he was trying to come up with something witty to say when she reached up and started kissing him.

She had her hands on each side of his face as she planted soft kisses on his lips. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her as close to him as he could.

"Harvey…" She said breathlessly. "Take me to bed."

"I thought you'd never ask." He smirked.

* * *

Later on, Harvey fell back onto the bed. Sex with Rebecca was always quite the workout and this time was no different. He tried to get his heart rate back to normal and was surprised when she laid down against him, moving his arm around her so that they were cuddling.

He didn't cuddle. That was also one of his main rules. He didn't cuddle and he didn't stay the night. But here he was cuddling and it wasn't that bad having her in his arms like that. He decided to go with it.

"I have to admit I missed that." She said, still a little out of breath.

He couldn't help but chuckle. "So did I."

She maneuvered so she had her elbows propping herself up and she could look into his face. "I'm going to say something and I'd like it if you could just let me say it. Ok?"

"Ok." Now he was intrigued.

"Harvey, you are like a drug." She chuckled. "I can't be in the same room as you without thinking about when I can get my next fix. I touch you or kiss you and I just want to rip all of your clothes off, no matter where we are or who is around."

"Well I wouldn't mind you doing that." He interjected with a chuckle.

"You said you'd let me talk." She elbowed him gently in the chest.

"Ok." He held his hands up.

"This last couple of weeks when I didn't see you…I thought I might be able to detox. I thought I could let you go and I'd be ok. But one look at you and I'm right back where I started. I don't know what it is about you, but I just can't seem to get enough." She confessed.

He stared at her face, seeing the vulnerability on her face. While it went against what he was used to, he decided to be honest and vulnerable with her for a moment. "If it helps you any, I feel the same way."

He saw a smile form on her face. "That does actually help." She reached up and kissed him.

Then he watched as she climbed out of bed and put his shirt on again.

"Why are you out of bed and why are you in my shirt?" He asked.

She turned around and smirked. "I wanted to get us a drink and I like wearing your shirts. If you want me to stop wearing them, you might just have to sue me." She winked before leaving the room.

* * *

"Thank you for meeting me for coffee today." Rebecca told Donna as they sat down at a small coffee shop the next day.

"Truthfully I was surprised you called." Donna told her, taking a sip of her coffee.

"Well I wanted to apologize for what you had to hear in Harvey's office a while back."

Donna chuckled. "Oh don't worry about it. It was actually quite entertaining."

"Still it was highly inappropriate." Rebecca admitted. "I wouldn't have said those things if I thought anyone else was listening in."

"You like him. There's nothing inappropriate about that." Donna stated bluntly. "And it's nice to see him squirm around a woman for once. I have a sixth sense about people and I get the feeling that you don't want to hurt him, which makes you alright in my book. So be as inappropriate with him as you would like if it means he stays in a good mood."

"You've known him for a long time and know him pretty well, right?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Am I…I mean is it…Do you think it is wrong of me to get involved with Harvey?" There was no easy way to ask this but she needed to ask someone who knew Harvey better than she did.

"What do you mean?" Donna asked.

"It's common knowledge that he is a complicated man and he doesn't do relationships."

"And you want a relationship with him?"

"Yeah." She answered honestly. "I do. But does that make an idiot?"

"No." Donna shook her head. "It doesn't make you an idiot. It makes you human. Look, Harvey talks a big game about not wanting to be attached to anything or anyone. But I think it is because he doesn't believe he will find someone he believes is worthy who also believes he is worthy too. I can't say for sure what he will do about you, but I don't think you are an idiot for trying. Just remember that Harvey is sometimes like an onion. He may make you cry while you peel back the layers."

"Thank you." Rebecca smiled. "I appreciate it."

"Now please tell me something, and this is very important if we are going to become friends." Donna smiled. "Where did you get that purse?"

"It's actually from this little shop I discovered not too far away from my place." She smiled. "I can take you there sometime if you want. If you like this purse then you will love their shoes."

"Now you're speaking my language." Donna gushed. "I like you. We'll be good friends."

* * *

When Rebecca got back to her office after coffee with Donna she was surprised to find Xavier waiting for her. "Hi Xavier." She greeted, placing her purse on her desk. "Did we have a meeting scheduled that I didn't know about?"

"No." He assured her with a smile. "I just dropped by to discuss how you are settling in to the firm. You're coming up on your first month here. How do you like it here so far?"

"I like it just fine." She told him.

"You've definitely made a name for yourself around here already. You beat Harvey Specter as your first case and you've signed 26 new clients already. That's the most any new senior partner in the firm has signed in their first month."

"Actually, make that 27." She chuckled. "I'm signing Reed Industries later this afternoon."

He smiled. "Alright. 27. That's even more impressive. You are really hitting the ground running."

"Well wasn't that why you hired me?" She chuckled. "You told me you wanted a pit bull in your corner."

"That I did." He nodded, coming over and patting her on the shoulder. "And you are turning out to be quite the pit bull. Keep up the great work."

She watched him leave her office, remembering their conversation at the conference six weeks ago.

" _Is this seat taken?" She turned to see a very tall, dark haired man standing next to her._

" _No. Go ahead." She shook her head and then went back to her drink. It was the end of day one of the law conference her firm sent her to in Las Vegas. She wasn't much of a gambler, so she didn't go into the casino like the majority of the other lawyers. She headed for the bar instead._

" _I'm Xavier Bastin." He held out his hand to her._

" _Rebecca Monroe." She shook his head and gave him a small smile._

" _You are here with the law conference too, right?"_

" _Yeah. I'm a senior partner at Reed Newman Case in LA.'"_

" _I'm with Florrick Bastin and James in New York City."_

" _A name partner." She nodded. "Congratulations."_

" _Thank you." He smiled. "So what are you doing at this conference?"_

" _My firm sent me." She admitted. "They needed someone to represent the firm and I didn't mind getting out of town for a couple of days. I thought a change of scenery would be nice."_

" _Are you getting tired of LA?" He asked. "Is it not a challenge anymore?"_

" _Something like that." She chuckled._

" _Hmm…" He was silent for a moment._

" _So what are you doing here?"_

" _My firm is looking for a new senior partner."_

" _And you want to poach someone from here?" She guessed._

" _Why not?" He chuckled. "Getting this many lawyers from firms around the country in one room doesn't happen very often. It seems like a better option than going through a headhunter and having to pay them to do something I can do just as well as they can."_

" _So tell me…who is your frontrunner?" She asked, suddenly curious. "Please tell me it isn't Caruso. He seems like a prick."_

" _I think I might be looking at my frontrunner."_

 _She was caught off guard by that remark. "You just met me."_

" _I have good instincts about people." He explained. "The truth is that the senior partner I'm looking for has to be someone I can work closely with because they would report directly to me. I need a new right hand and they need to be a pit bull."_

" _And you think I'm a pit bull?" She asked._

" _I think so." He nodded. "You have that look in your eyes."_

" _What look is that?"_

" _The look of someone who wants to rule the world and be the best." He explained. "So what do you say? Would you ever consider a move across the country?"_

 _She would be lying if she didn't say the thought had crossed her mind. It would be nice to put some distance between her and her father. Perhaps a change in scenery would do her some good._

" _You don't need to answer right now." He told her, giving her his card. "Think about it and have dinner with me tomorrow after the conference is over. We can discuss it then."_

" _I'll definitely think about it." She told him._

There were many times in the past month where she questioned if moving here was the right decision. But things seemed to be working out well for her, so maybe her impulsive decision was a good one.


	7. Chapter 7

Synchronicity

Chapter Seven

Two weeks later

Rebecca walked down the street with Harvey. They had gone to dinner three blocks from his penthouse and were walking back.

"I still don't see why we couldn't have taken a cab or an Uber." He complained.

She looked over at him and smiled before looping her arm around his. "We didn't because it's only three blocks. That's not that far to walk."

"I shouldn't have given Ray off tonight. Then we could have already been back."

"You had to let him take the night off though." She reminded him as she laughed. "It was his 20th wedding anniversary. If you didn't give him tonight off, his wife might have come and murdered you in your sleep and you know it."

"Still…" He looked up at the sky. "It looks like it's going to start raining any minute and neither of us brought an umbrella."

She stopped walking and stared at him. "Ok, Harvey. What the hell is going on with you tonight?"

"Nothing." He stopped, faced her and shook his head. "Why?"

"You've been massively cranky all night and I'm started to get annoyed." She pointed out. "So just tell me. What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong."

There was obviously something wrong. He had been extremely quiet during dinner, except to complain about random things…the lighting in the restaurant was wrong, there wasn't enough ice in his water, there was too much pepper on his food. The complaints were petty and seemed to never end. "Is it work?"

"There's nothing wrong."

She hated to have to ask this next question but she did anyway. "Is it me? Did I do something?"

"No. Everything's good in every aspect of my life." He snapped. "So just drop it."

She could tell that he was getting annoyed with her now. A part of her wondered if she should just drop it. But then she realized she couldn't do that. "I know you want me to drop it but I can't." She sighed, seeing his roll his eyes. "Look, if you don't want to tell me what's going on and what the problem is that's fine. I'm a grown up and I can deal with that. But don't you dare lie to my face and tell me everything's fine when clearly you are upset about something. I'm not that stupid and it's rude to insult my intelligence like that."

She didn't say another word, choosing instead to continue walking towards his penthouse. Out of curiosity she counted the seconds until Harvey caught up to her. It took exactly fifteen seconds before he got in step with her. He surprised her by grabbing her hand.

"Wait." He called out.

She turned to look at him, prepared to still be mad. But he looked genuinely contrite so she softened her stance a little.

"I can't tell you everything that is going on." He started. "But I'm preoccupied with a problem about a work thing that I haven't fully solved yet. As you can see, it's making me grumpy."

"It's making you extremely grumpy." She chuckled.

"Ok. Extremely grumpy." He conceded.

"Ok." She nodded, kissing his cheek. "Thank you for telling me. I can respect that."

He chuckled. "Wait. So just like that everything is fine again?"

"Yeah." She smiled.

"But you were mad at me a moment ago."

She chuckled. "Yeah, I know. But I'm not mad anymore. Harvey, I understand that there are going to be things having to do with work that you can't tell me, just like there are things with my work that I can't really tell you. My issue came from the fact that you wouldn't even admit you were upset. You lied about it instead."

She moved to whisper in his ear. "Now that you have admitted it, we can focus on how I can make you feel less grumpy. I already have several ideas." It really didn't matter to her if he told her all of his work problems because she understood some things they wouldn't be able to share. But since she couldn't help him with his problem, she would try to help by distracting him.

He smirked. "Really?"

"Really." She was about to say something else when there was a huge boom of thunder, followed by a downpour.

"I told you it was going to rain." He chided her with a smile on his face. "We're only about a block away. We should hurry and get out of the rain."

She twirled around, letting the rain soak her more before going over and kissing him. "But I thought you liked it when I was wet."

He chuckled and grabbed her hand. "You're going to be the death of me. C'mon. Let's get back to my place and get out of this weather."

"It's just rain." She laughed.

"If you want, you can grab some of my clothes and I can put yours in the dryer." He offered as they walked down his hallway.

"Thank you. That would be nice." She smiled.

* * *

He unlocked the door to his penthouse and saw her push her way through first. They were both completely soaked from the rain. While he wasn't happy about it, she seemed thrilled. She walked down the hallway, slipping off her shoes as she walked. Then he saw her throw her purse onto the counter. He smirked as he watched with amusement.

The next thing she did was unzip her skirt and slowly shimmy out of it. The skirt got left where she was standing before she continued towards the bedroom. She was unbuttoning her blouse as she walked. Without looking back she let the blouse fall to the floor. Briefly he wondered just how much she was going to take off considering she only had underwear on now. This must have been one of her ideas to make him feel less grumpy. Maybe he would have to be grumpy more often.

"Am I supposed to clean up after you now?" He teased causing her to turn around and look at him.

"You could…" She trailed off, reaching behind her for the clasp on her bra. "Or you could just follow me to the bedroom and start getting out of your wet clothes too. It's your choice." She then dropped the bra on the floor.

He moved to follow her but his phone started to ring. He sighed as he pulled it out and saw the caller id. "It's Jessica. I have to take this."

"Ok." She winked with a smirk. "That just means I get free reign over picking what shirt of yours I wear."

He chuckled and watched her disappear into the bedroom before answering the call.

"Harvey, where are you on the Mike situation?" Jessica said, forgoing a greeting.

"I'm still waiting on Lola to let me know how she is doing with her project." He explained. There was someone getting suspicious about Mike and they needed to cover their tracks before they all got exposed.

"Well hopefully she gets it done soon or else we are going to be in a lot of trouble."

"I know." He sighed. "But I'm on top of things. Trust me."

"Trusting you got me into this situation in the first place." She reminded him. "Just get it done Harvey. I'm not going down for your lapse in judgment."

Jessica then hung up on him. Lola would come through for them and create a better digital trail to cover Mike's tracks. She had to. Everything was riding on it. Unfortunately there wasn't anything he could do now was wait.

He put his phone down on the table next to the couch and headed into his bedroom. He was hoping that Rebecca was still practically naked but unfortunately she was slipping on a shirt. "Hey…"

She turned around to show that she had picked his Harvard t-shirt. "What do you think?"

"I think you're wearing my favorite shirt." He started to take off his wet clothes, starting with his jacket.

"I know it's your favorite. It's the only shirt I've seen you wear more than once." She smirked, coming over to help him take off his tie. "Why do you think I chose it?"

He chuckled, watching her work on the buttons of his shirt. The feel of her warm hands on his chest as she slowly slid the wet garment off excited him almost as much as the sight of her in his shirt. He still didn't like seeing women wear his clothes, but he was willing to make an exception for her. Everything she wore of his made her look like a goddess.

By now she had moved to his belt and was pulling it through all of the loops. Then she pressed herself up against his body as her hands worked to unbutton his pants.

"Would you like to get out of your wet clothes and into something else that is wet?" She whispered in his ear.

He didn't bother replying. She was taking her time and being too slow taking off his clothes so he moved back and quickly got the bottom half of his clothes off. Then he picked her up and gently pushed her on to the bed.

* * *

About an hour later they were laying on the couch in the living room. He had made a fire and they were having a drink. He had his feet up on the coffee table and she was nestled on his side.

"I hope you know that I'm commandeering this shirt." She told him, taking a drink. "It's officially mine now."

He chuckled. "Oh yeah? Who said you could do that?"

"No one." She turned to look at him. "That's the whole point of commandeering it. Besides, don't you know by now that I take what I want?"

"And you want my shirt?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I do."

"What if I say no?" He was amused by this conversation.

"You could say no, but I won't listen." She told him, setting her drink on the coffee table. Then she moved to straddle his lap. "I know your rule about not having women wear your clothes. But something tells me that deep down, you like seeing me in your shirt. Am I wrong?"

"You're not wrong."

"So then it's settled. This shirt is now mine." She smirked, leaning in to kiss him.

At that moment, his phone rang. "I need to take this."

"Is it Jessica again?" She asked as she got off of his lap and sat on the other side of the couch.

He looked at the caller id and saw it was Lola's number. "Yeah. I'm going to take it on the balcony."

"Ok."

As he walked out to the balcony, he felt bad about lying to her about who the caller was, but he couldn't tell her about Lola without telling her everything. And he definitely wasn't going to do that.

"It's done." Lola said.

"Already?" He asked.

"Yeah. I'm just that good." She boasted. "Everything will show that Mike went to Harvard. There are records everywhere now that will corroborate his story, not just in the Harvard database."

"Thank you Lola. I really appreciate it." He said, meaning every word.

"You're welcome. Tell Mike he owes me one now." She said before hanging up.

He quickly sent a text to Jessica, Louis, Mike and Donna letting them know that it was done and everything was fine now. He knew that since Mike lived with Rachel he could take care of telling her. With a smile on his face he went back inside so he could get back to Rebecca. Glancing at the couch he saw that she had stretched out and fallen asleep.

He grinned before gently picking her up to take her back to his bed. Once she was in his arms she made a contented sighing noise and cuddled closer to him. He looked down at her and realized she was beginning to mean something to him. She was supposed to just be someone he spent time with and had some fun with.

This was the first time he realized he might be in over his head with her. They had spent every night together for the past two weeks. He had her phone number programmed into his speed dial. And thoughts of her infiltrated his mind at work. He was starting to really care about her. That thought left him both amused and petrified at the same time.


	8. Chapter 8

Synchronicity

Chapter Eight

"So I am starting a new case today." Rebecca said, handing him his shirt. She was already dressed for the day but like always he was taking his sweet time. "I'm having lunch with the lawyer for the other side in order to try and mediate a settlement so we don't have to go to court."

"Ok." He replied, looking at her strangely. Then he started to button up his shirt. "Since when did we start sharing what our schedules for the day were?" He chuckled. "Did I miss that memo? Do I have to tell you what I plan on doing today?"

She smiled. "No. I just…I thought that maybe you might want to know about this meeting."

"Why?" He was finished with his shirt and started putting on his tie. "What's so special about that meeting?"

"It's with David Black."

He laughed. "Who is he?"

"He works for Smith and Kline. He is the lawyer for the other side who also happens to be my old college boyfriend…the same college boyfriend I had for four years and was briefly engaged to before I called it off." She looked over at him, trying to gauge his reaction. His face gave nothing away though.

She honestly wasn't trying to make him jealous. She just wanted to be honest and upfront with him so there wouldn't be any secrets between them.

"Harvey…"

After a moment he turned away to look in the mirror and make his tie perfect. "It's ok. You don't need to worry about telling me things like that. It's not like we are in a relationship or even exclusive for that matter."

"We aren't?" She challenged with a laugh. That was news to her. She wasn't sure which part she was more upset by…the fact that he said they weren't exclusive or that they weren't in a relationship. "Then why are you over at my place or I'm over here every night for weeks now?"

"I don't know…maybe because you're one hell of a good lay." He shook his head. "But it sure as shit isn't because we are in a relationship."

She watched his face in the mirror as it turned to stone and in that moment her heart crumbled. She didn't know everything about this man but she did figure out that he had trust issues and trying to break down his walls was a full time job. She thought she had been making progress, but the look on his face and the words he spoke told her otherwise.

Sadness turned to anger and without thinking it through she spoke words that she immediately regretted. "Ok. So then if we aren't exclusive or even in a relationship for that matter, you won't mind if halfway through lunch I let him take me into the bathroom for a quickie for old times' sake."

If looks could kill, she was certain she would be dead. That was clearly the wrong thing to say.

"Be my guest." He spat out the words angrily and grabbed his suit jacket. Then he walked closer to her. "Go be a whore for your ex and try to win the settlement you want. After all, it wouldn't be the first time you tried that. Hell, you did that with me. Look how great it turned out for you then. No wonder you want to try that tactic again. It must be your signature move by now when you realize you have no case."

Without thinking she slapped him across the face. "How dare you say that to me again!"

"I think it is best if we end whatever this was right here and right now." His voice was cold and detached, and she didn't know how to fix this.

A part of her wanted to apologize and say she was sorry for baiting him. She was aware he was lashing out at her again and she wanted to believe he didn't truly think she would try to whore herself out for a settlement. But there was another part of her that was both angry and hurt. This was the second time he had accused her of this. And the fact that he was denying that they were in a relationship was ridiculous.

She knew he didn't do relationships, but somehow over the course of the last month they had slipped into a relationship. In this moment her anger and hurt got the better of her. So instead of fighting him, she gave up.

"You might just be right about that because I can't do whatever you want to call this with an asshole who thinks so little of me. Goodbye Harvey." Without looking back she grabbed her bag and walked out of his penthouse. As much as she wanted to crumble, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of letting him see her break.

* * *

Harvey sighed as he stalked the halls of Pearson Specter Litt towards his office. He was in a bad mood. There was no denying it. But he could deny the reason. He could pretend that breaking things off with Rebecca this morning didn't hurt. He could pretend that calling her a whore again didn't haunt him. He could pretend that he didn't want to run over to her office and beg her to forgive him.

But what would happen if he did get her to forgive him? Then what? She implied they were in a relationship. And somehow, against his better judgement and no matter how hard he denied it, he had indeed found himself in a relationship with her. It broke every single goddamn rule he had about not getting romantically involved. But here he was and he hated this feeling.

She had become the thing he thought about first when he woke up in the morning and the last thing he thought about before going to sleep. He was in too deep and if he didn't stop what they were now, he would only get in deeper.

He sat down in his chair and sighed when he saw Donna enter his office. "Donna, not now please."

"What's wrong with you?" Donna asked, coming over to the side of his desk.

"Nothing." He shook everything off and pretended to be back to normal.

"It's not nothing." She laughed. "So either tell me or I'll call Rebecca and get the whole story from her."

It was a time like this where he wasn't sure he was happy about her and Donna becoming such good friends. He briefly wondered if they talked about him behind his back, but then focused on the conversation at hand. "What makes you think it has to do with her?"

"Because I know you, Harvey."

"Well if you call her she probably won't answer because whatever we had is over. I'm pretty sure she hates me now." He couldn't even bring himself to say her name. This was making him feel pathetic, and he hated that feeling.

"What did you do this time?" Donna whispered quietly.

"What makes you automatically jump to the conclusion that I did something?" He practically yelled at her. "Why is it so hard to believe she did something?"

"Again, it's because I know you." She repeated.

"Fine." He knew that if he didn't tell Donna now, she would just pester him until he confessed. Or even worse, she really would call Rebecca for her side of the story. He could only imagine how that conversation would play out. "She told me she was having a working lunch with her ex."

"Ok." Donna said, looking at him strangely. "What's so wrong about that?"

"She thought she needed to tell me that because we were in a relationship." He expected Donna to understand now that he told her. After all, he knew she was fully aware of his relationship issues.

"I don't understand." She shook her head. "You guys are, or were until this morning, in a relationship."

"No we weren't!" He insisted loudly.

"Ok." She conceded. "Maybe you didn't think of it as a relationship. But if you had been in a relationship you would have expected her to be honest and tell you something like that. So why are you so mad at her for being honest and upfront with you?"

"I'm not mad." He objected.

"Harvey…I see it on your face. You're clearly mad."

"I'm not mad at her. I just…I don't do relationships." He sighed. "You know that about me."

"I know you didn't used to do relationships." She agreed. "But whether you like it or not, you were in a relationship with Rebecca. And I think deep down you know that, it scared you and so you made an irrational decision to lash out at her."

"I know nothing like that." Harvey smirked slightly. Sometimes it was scary how Donna seemed to know what was going on in his head.

"So what did you do?" Donna asked again. "How badly did you lash out at her this time?"

"How did you know?"

"I'm Donna. I know everything." She smiled. "C'mon. How bad was it?"

"I was shitty to her." He was ashamed to admit. "I brought up some things that I knew would hurt in order to get her to be angry enough to leave."

"You need to apologize." She told him.

"I don't think that will help." He hung his head. "I'm too good at making her angry with me."

"Well no one has ever accused you of doing things half-assed before." She laughed. "But fine." She walked over to the doorway. "Do nothing. Be miserable. Make her miserable too. But you know the only way to make up for being an asshole is to apologize and mean it."

He watched her go back to her desk and thought about it. Apologizing meant admitting they were in a relationship. Was that really something he was ready to do? Ever since the night Lola fixed Mike's problem and he found Rebecca asleep on his couch he realized he had legitimate feelings for her.

That was a dangerous prospect for him. He always said he didn't want to care about anyone except his younger brother and his family. And while he made exceptions for caring about Jessica, Donna, Mike, Rachel and even Louis to a certain extent…he wasn't sure he was ready to add Rebecca to the list. But if he didn't apologize to her then she was going to be out of his life for good. That wasn't something he wanted either.

He sighed as he contemplated his next step.

* * *

"I know I said it earlier, but I have to say it again. You truly look great Rebecca." David told her. "New York definitely agrees with you."

"Thank you David." Rebecca managed to smile. It had been a rough morning ever since her breakup with Harvey. While she didn't want to come to lunch with David anymore, she had to because it was her job. So she put on her fake smiles and tried to get through the day.

"I was beyond surprised when I heard you moved out here. I never thought you would leave California. You loved it there."

"Well I just needed a change and New York City seemed like as good of a place as any."

"Can we talk about the purple elephant in the room?" He chuckled.

She knew what he meant and sighed. A part of her hoped they would at least get through the majority of their lunch without having to talk about this. Unfortunately it looked like she was wrong. "Do we have to talk about it right now?"

"I just feel the need to thank you again." He told her, reaching across the table and grabbing her hand. "You could have ended my career before it started, but you chose not to and I'll forever be grateful to you for that."

"Just because we didn't work out together as a couple doesn't mean I want to see you get in trouble or lose your license." She explained. "I meant it when I said I would keep your secret and I will continue to keep your secret."

"You're a hell of a woman." He smiled. "Tell me, have you ever considered leaving your firm and going to one that is actually a major player in the city?"

"Like who?" She chuckled.

"Like Smith and Kline." He said before taking a sip of his water. "Look, just think about it. We could work together. We have a senior partner position available. I can get you in and we could have lunch more often."

"You better be careful. It sure sounds like you're just offering that as a bribe to keep me quiet." She pointed out.

"It's not." He assured her. "I've learned my lesson on that. I truly just want to work with you and you deserve to be at a better firm. You are a superstar lawyer. Everyone in this city is talking about you right now. Florrick Bastin and James is going nowhere. Smith and Kline is more of a powerhouse. You belong somewhere you can truly shine."

"I'm ok where I am right now." She told him. "So thank you, but no thank you."

"Ok. If you ever change your mind, the offer stands." He told her.

"Thank you." She nodded. "Can we please get back to the settlement talks? I don't think either of our clients want this to go to trial."

"We can talk about that later. This case is simple and it won't take long to get a deal together." He insisted. "Let's talk about you. What's new with you? Are you seeing anyone?"

That was a sore subject for her since her fight with Harvey earlier in the day. Rather than getting into it, she chose to tell a half-truth in order to try to get him to leave her alone. "It's complicated."

"I would imagine it is." David laughed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well I would assume the man who has been staring at us for the last twenty minutes has something to do with the 'it's complicated' statement. Am I right?"

She turned her head and saw that Harvey was at a table not too far away from theirs. They locked eyes and she saw red. "Excuse me for a moment. I need to take care of something." She stood up from the table and took a deep breath before walking over to Harvey's table.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She asked in a hushed tone.

"Louis told me this place has a fantastic prime rib sandwich so I came to try it out." Harvey answered with a smirk.

"This isn't a joke." She sighed. "Why are you here?"

"I wanted to see you."

"How did you even find out I would be here?"

"I called your friends' firm and found out from his secretary." He admitted.

"Why go to all of that trouble?" She asked, leaning in. "Did you want to watch me flirt with him? Or did you want to watch me drag him to the bathroom?"

"No. I didn't want to see that. But in all fairness it didn't look like you were flirting." He pointed out with a smirk on his face.

"Ok." She sighed. "Look, I don't know why you are here and I don't care to know anymore. If you magically show up in public where I am like this again I will file charges of stalking because since we aren't in a relationship you have no reason to just show up like this."

"Rebecca…please just let me explain…" He touched her arm.

"No." She shook her head and pulled her arm away like his touch was made of fire. "You don't get to accuse me of being a whore twice and then try to explain it away like it doesn't matter with that stupid grin of yours. You said we were done, Harvey. So we're done. Accept it and move on." Without looking back, she returned to her table.


	9. Chapter 9

Synchronicity

Chapter Nine

That night, Rebecca was curled up on her couch with a blanket over her and a large glass of wine in her hand. She wanted to forget this whole day even happened. Earlier she had wanted to start the whole day over again because she thought maybe she could have done something differently. Maybe she could have done something or said something to make things turn out differently. But then she realized that was insane.

Harvey wasn't looking for a relationship and from what he said this morning, he definitely wasn't looking for a relationship with her. So she had to move on and try to pretend that there wasn't a Harvey Spector size hole in her heart.

It didn't matter that he showed up at the restaurant today. Earlier she had tried to make sense of it, but she stopped herself. Harvey made it clear this morning they were over so she needed to accept it and move on. Her heart broke into more pieces when she told him to accept they were done and to move on. Seeing him move on to the next girl would break her heart. But maybe it was for the best.

She couldn't decide if she was more hurt or angry with the way he lashed out at her. She had hoped after he lashed out at her before he wouldn't do it again. But here she was, sitting on her couch again lamenting the fact that he was cruel. If he wanted to push her away, maybe she should let him.

There was a knock on her door and she contemplated not answering it. But the knocking didn't stop and she eventually gave in. Leaving the blanket on her couch, she made her way to the door and opened it to find Harvey.

He wasn't wearing his suit or his normal cocky smirk. No, this time he was wearing khaki pants and a black sweater. His face actually looked contrite too. She studied his face for a moment before shaking her head. As much as she wanted to let him in, she had to be strong. "No, Harvey. Whatever it is you want, just go away." She moved to close the door in his face but was stopped when he put his hand on the door and pushed back gently.

"Please." He asked softly. "I wanted to explain at the restaurant today but you wouldn't let me. Please let me explain now."

"What is there to explain?" She scoffed. "Because I don't need your explanations. I understand it perfectly. You're an asshole, plain and simple. You hurt me a second time today and you seem to think that I'm a whore. That's all the explanation I need."

"Please? Give me five minutes."

She looked at his face and sighed. Against her better judgment she closed her eyes and nodded. Standing down, she let him into her apartment. "You have exactly five minutes. Then you have to get out."

"If you still want me to go after my five minutes are up I will leave and never come back." He promised, entering her place and standing in the middle of the room.

"Well?" She asked when he was quiet.

"This isn't easy for me." He admitted. "Normally I know exactly what to say to close a situation. I know exactly what someone wants to hear and I say it no matter what. But you…you just keep surprising me and I can't figure out what you want."

"What I want is simple." She told him, crossing her arms over her chest. "It really shouldn't be that surprising to you. I want you."

"I'm just not sure how to be in a relationship."

"Then you should just leave right now." She pointed to the door.

"I want to try." He said quietly.

"I don't think it's a good idea." She replied.

"Why?" He looked genuinely surprised she said no.

"Because I don't want to be some kind of guinea pig for your relationship issues."

He closed the gap between them and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier."

"Which part?" She scoffed. "The part where you acted like I was nothing more than an extended booty call or the part where you implied I use sex to win cases for the second time since I met you?"

"Everything." He whispered. "I'm ashamed by what I said this morning."

"You should be." She pulled her hands away from him and crossed them over her chest again. "You have called me a whore twice now, Harvey. That's not ok."

"I know. I'm sorry. You have to know that I don't believe you are a whore." He told her. "And I know that isn't how you try to win cases."

She stared at his face for a moment, trying to discover the truth. It seemed like he was truly apologetic about his harsh words. But she wasn't sure she could let him off the hook for all of it.

"You know, you're a brilliant lawyer Harvey, and it isn't even because you understand the law better than anyone else I know. It's because you have that killer instinct and you know how to find everyone's weak spot to exploit it. You find the weak spot and you dig and you dig until they scream for mercy. Well congratulations! You win. I'm screaming for mercy."

She held her hands up in defeat. "Mercy! Ok? Mercy! So stop hurting me."

"I don't want to hurt you. It's the last thing I want to do." He told her.

"But you did…twice now. You're really good at it too." She scoffed. "All I wanted to do was be honest with you today. I didn't want there to be any secrets between us. But you twisted it around and used it like a dagger against me. You lashed out at me instead of just telling me what was on your mind. I don't know why you can't just be honest with me."

"I don't do relationships." He stated bluntly.

"Then we have a big problem because I want a relationship with you and I'm tired of acting like I don't. I'm tired of tip-toeing around the fact that I like you a lot so that I don't somehow scare you away. I'm not settling for less than what I want this time. And what I want is you."

She knew it was a probably mistake to state her desire aloud but she decided to be direct. After all, he had already broken up with her once today. The worst he could do is walk away again. She had nothing to lose at this point.

"So if that is something you don't want, then just leave me the hell alone from now on."

"Can I tell you why I don't do relationships?"

Against her better judgment she nodded. And when he motioned for her to sit down on the couch, she obliged without another word. He sat down on the ottoman in front of her.

"When I was a teenager I caught my mom having an affair on my dad. She told me it was a one-time thing and she wasn't going to do it again. She begged me not to tell him because she didn't want me to ruin her marriage and break up our family. And I kept that a secret for her for years. I didn't tell my dad what she was doing, even though she was still cheating on him every chance she had."

He paused for a moment. "It tore me up inside keeping something like that from my dad. He was so in love with my mom that he couldn't see what was right in front of his face. He couldn't see that she was making a fool out of him. Eventually I just couldn't keep the secret anymore and told my dad all about it. They got divorced and my family split up. And it taught me that you can't trust anyone not to screw you over because you'll just end up getting hurt in the end." He explained.

"If you can't even trust your own mother not to betray you, who can you trust?" He scoffed.

"Harvey…" She now realized that her outburst of suggesting she sleep with Sam at lunch had to have triggered the stuff with his mom. "I'm sorry. I can only imagine the kind of turmoil keeping that secret for your mom must have created for you. She shouldn't have asked you to keep something that important from your father. But that was one situation and one person. It doesn't mean everyone will screw you over."

"Maybe not." He conceded. "But it's easier to go around assuming that everyone will. It keeps you from getting too attached to others."

"It also keeps you very alone." She pointed out.

"You're right about that." He sighed. "Look, I'm painfully aware that I have a nasty habit of lashing out at people when I feel like I'm too vulnerable. I first did it after you beat me because I was afraid to get too attached to you. And I did it again today because the truth is I'm scared."

"Of what?"

"Of you." He admitted quietly.

"I'm not that scary." She chuckled.

"I would have to disagree." He smiled. "I'm scared of the way I feel about you. I have tried so hard for so long to avoid relationships, and I've done a really good job until now. But despite what I said this morning, somehow I found myself in a relationship with you."

She took a deep breath before she said what she needed to say. "Is that really so bad though?" She chuckled nervously. "I mean, the past few weeks have been nice, right? I thought we were having fun and we really clicked well together."

"Yeah." He smiled. "They have been nice and we do work well together. But that's the scary part. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop."

"You can't live your life like that though." She pointed out.

"I know." He nodded.

"For what it's worth, I'm sorry about saying I would sleep with David. I didn't really mean that I would. You just made me angry and I lashed out too…"

"It's ok." He assured her.

"No. It isn't. Now that I know what happened with your mom, I hate that I said those things." She shook her head. "Is that why you followed me to lunch? To see if I was actually going to do anything with David because you didn't trust me?"

"A part of me did go to see." He admitted. "I also wanted to apologize."

"But then I talked about flirting with David and that couldn't have helped things any. I'm sorry."

"It's ok. You didn't know and you don't have to be sorry. This isn't your fault. Ok? It's mine. This is my issue. But let me finish." He pleaded. "The stuff that happened with my mom is the reason I value loyalty above all else. It's the reason I can't handle any kind of betrayal and it's the reason I haven't even considered being in a relationship with anyone. I always think that the other person will turn on me."

"I understand." She nodded. Going through something like that as a kid must have been torture and she could understand how that could have messed up his feelings on being vulnerable to other people. She knew how a parents' actions could influence the way you see yourself and your views on life.

"I don't think you do." He shook his head. "I feel like there is something wrong with me because I can't just give myself completely to someone else. But you are the first woman who has ever made me want to push through everything and open myself up. I've only told a handful of people about my mom and I've never told someone I'm involved with about it…until tonight. You scare me. I want to break my rules for you and it scares me."

She took a moment to process what he was saying. Then she shook her head. "No. Harvey…my heart breaks for you that you had to go through that with your mother. But I don't know if it's the best idea in the world for…"

She was silenced by his lips on hers. It was a tentative kiss, unlike any of their others. Her first instinct was to pull away, but she couldn't stop. His kisses were like a drug and she had already become an addict. After the shock wore off, she started kissing him back and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He moved his lips from hers and they found their way to her neck, finding the exact spot that always drove her crazy. Her breathing became erratic and she couldn't help but moan softly. "You're not playing fairly."

He stopped for a moment to whisper in her ear. "You're the one who said I have a knack for finding someone's weak spot."

She couldn't help but chuckle softly. "You aren't the only one who can find a weak spot." Within moments she had him pushed back into a laying position on the oversized ottoman. His amused look only spurred her on more as she slowly climbed on top of him. She grazed his crotch with her hand on purpose, taking more time than necessary. Once she was on top of him, she wriggled her hips back and forth a few times, noticing that the friction between them was driving him mad.

His eyes were closed and he had moved his hands to her hips, guiding them around. This wasn't enough for her so she moved her mouth towards his ear. "Someone has to cry mercy and it won't be me this time." After she was done whispering in his ear she started alternating between blowing in his ear and nibbling on his ear lobe. The ear lobe thing was something she had discovered drove him wild about a week ago and she wasn't going to pass up the chance to play with him like this.

"You're not playing fairly either." He moaned, opening his eyes and turning his head to look into her eyes.

"I can't let you have all the fun." She pressed her hips into his abruptly, causing him to hiss.

A few more times and she figured he was ready to say it.

"Mercy." He whispered.

"What was that?" She asked, pretending not to hear him.

"I said mercy." He said a little louder this time. "You can stop now."

"No I can't." She shook her head. "You shouldn't start something you can't finish."

"Oh you know I have no problem finishing." He grinned. "But isn't my five minutes up by now? Shouldn't I be on my way?"

"Don't even think about leaving." She commanded. "That's one of the rules of a relationship…you don't leave the other person when they are wildly aroused."

"Are you wildly aroused?" He chuckled.

She detangled herself from him and stood up. "If you want to know the answer to that, you're going to have to catch me first."

She watched as he slowly stood up.

"Oh I will catch you." He swore.

She smirked for a moment before taking off towards the bedroom. "Come and get me."

* * *

Two hours later, they were wrapped up in the bed sheets. Rebecca was curled up next to him with her head on his chest and he had his arm around her, slowly marking small circles on her arm with his fingers.

"Are you still awake?" He whispered.

"Yeah." She replied. "But I can't go for round three yet."

"Maybe in a few minutes?" He laughed. "I actually just wanted to say that I want to try and give this relationship a chance. But I want you to know that there is a 90% certainty that I will screw it up at some point."

She pulled away from him just enough so she could look at him. "Harvey, I'm not expecting perfection. You might mess this up or I might mess this up. I can't predict what will happen in the future any more than you can. But it means the world to me that you even want to try."

"You don't mind being my guinea pig?" He smirked.

She laughed, burying her head in his chest for a moment. "I'm not going to live that down, am I?"

"Not for a while, no." He laughed, kissing the top of her head.

She moved so she could look him in the eyes. "I guess then it depends on how much attention you plan on giving this guinea pig."

"As much as she wants."

"Hmm…" She reached up and kissed him. "I think you're learning."

"I am a quick study." He smirked.

She pulled away from him. "Can we be serious for a moment?"

"Sure." He nodded. "What's on your mind?"

"You can't call me a whore anymore." She told him. "That can't be your go-to insult every time you want to lash out at me. I won't let you do it anymore. One more time and I'm gone…for good."

He could see that she was serious. It wasn't an unfair request at all and he could comply. He reached over and kissed her forehead. "I promise I won't do it again."

She smiled. "Thank you."


	10. Chapter 10

Synchronicity

Chapter Ten

"So I think we need some ground rules for tonight." Rebecca told him as they sat on a blanket in front of the fireplace in his penthouse.

"Ok." He nodded. "Ground rules will be good."

It had been almost a month since they agreed they were in a relationship. She was staying over at his place pretty much every night. Occasionally he would stay over at hers but not very often. Things were going pretty well, which was surprising to him. They were having a lot of fun together. He couldn't help but think that maybe a relationship wasn't the worst thing in the world. Or maybe it was just the fact the relationship was with Rebecca.

"What do you have in mind?" He asked with a grin on his face.

"First of all, neither of us take anything personally." She started. "This is strictly business. Agreed?"

"Agreed."

"We don't try to trick the other person. Total honesty across the board." She insisted.

"Agreed. Anything else?"

"Lastly, the negotiation talks will take as long as necessary to make sure both of us are happy." She smirked. "I don't care if it takes all night long. No one leaves the negotiating table until both parties are fully satisfied.

"I like that rule best of all." He smirked.

"I thought you might." She gently pushed him down so that she could straddle him. "Are you ready to begin?"

"Absolutely."

It was fun to be on the same case this time. It was a merger between his client, Fowler Cosmetics, and her client, Sutter Plastics. Apparently his client wanted to start using recycled plastics for their packaging and thought the best way to do it was to merge with an existing company. They each had the list of demands from their clients and were charged with negotiating together until a deal could be agreed on by all parties. So they went back to his place and decided to try and get everything settled in one night.

"My CEO and the other upper management all stay on in their current jobs They simply become a subsidiary." She told him before nuzzling his neck.

"Alright. My client keeps all licensing rights." He gently flipped her over and started nibbling at her collarbone.

She moaned softly and ran her fingers through his hair. "Ok. There will be no factory closures for at least seven years."

"Agreed. The CEO and other upper management can make day to day operational decisions but will still have to answer to my clients' CEO and upper management for material decisions." He reached his hand up her skirt and pulled her underwear down.

"Sure. But each company retains its' own preferred outside counsel." She panted as her hands started to unhook his belt. It didn't take long for her hands to find his member and start stroking it.

"I think we need to take a break from negotiating. Don't you?" He smirked.

"Definitely." She said, kissing him.

* * *

Five hours later, after a couple of breaks to have sex, Rebecca sat up in Harvey's bed. She was wrapped up in his covers and typing away on her computer. They had finally gotten through all of the points of the negotiation and she was now in the process of typing everything up so they had it in contract form when they got their clients together tomorrow to sign off on the deal.

She was pretty proud of them being able to work together on this. They didn't fight once and it was actually fun to spend time working with Harvey instead of working against him. Tonight had shown her just how his legal mind worked and she was impressed. She knew he was smart and talented, but seeing it up close was something else.

It had been a month since he admitted that they were actually in a relationship and she was happy. Things between them seemed good and he seemed to be happy with the fact that he was with her. He hadn't lashed out at her again, which was nice.

He came back into the bedroom and smiled at her.

"Why are you typing it up tonight? It's late…or early. I guess it depends on how you want to look at it." He chuckled. "You know we could just make Mike do that later since the meeting isn't until 2pm."

"I want to get it all down while it is fresh in my mind." She told him, watching as he came over and sat on the bed off to the side of where she was. It didn't take him long to lean in and kiss her. "If you are trying to distract me, it won't work."

"Wanna bet?" He smirked.

"That wasn't a challenge." She shook her head.

"It sure sounded like a challenge to me." He went down to the foot of the bed and pulled up the covers so he could go underneath.

"Harvey…" She laughed. "Stop."

"I'm just getting started." Came the muffled response.

A moment later, she felt his lips on her leg. He was kissing her leg as he moved his way up. When he got to her knee, he stopped and she wondered if that was all he planned on doing. But she didn't have to wonder for long. She felt his hand reach up, gently stroking her.

"How is the typing going now?" He asked.

"Screw the typing." She chuckled. "You're right. Mike can do that later." She saved her document and then closed the laptop, placing it on the night stand.

"Get up here." She commanded, pulling on him. Within seconds he was on top of her, kissing her passionately.

"We need to work together more often." He whispered.

"I agree." She smiled.

* * *

The next afternoon, Harvey waited with his client in the conference room for Rebecca and her client to arrive. It was still five minutes until the meeting was supposed to start so they weren't late.

"I appreciate you getting this done so quickly." Ryan Fowler told him. "We just wanted to move on this merger as quickly as possible so everything can be in place for the packaging to be greener before the Christmas season."

"Of course." Harvey nodded. "It was my pleasure." Truthfully it was his pleasure to work on this case because working with Rebecca was fun. It wasn't just because they had sex while working…though that was a great side benefit. He truly liked spending time with her and seeing her thought process while working was intriguing. She was smart.

"Hello gentlemen." Rebecca greeted with a smile as she entered the room.

Her client, Tyler Sutter was following her into the room and sat next to her.

"Are we all ready to sign on the dotted line today?" She asked.

"I think I'm ready." Tyler agreed. "Are you Ryan?"

"Everything looks to be in order." Ryan agreed.

Rebecca slid the paperwork to the men and gave them pens.

"How did you two get this done so quickly?" Tyler asked.

"Oh we just banged it out in one night." Harvey answered. He didn't know if that statement would rattle her and was feeling victorious when he saw her narrow her eyes at him.

"It's amazing how fast you can work together when you have a common goal." She added.

"Well thank you for that." Tyler replied as he signed.

"So Tyler, now that it is done and everything is signed, what do you say we go get a drink and toast our new joint business?" Ryan asked.

"Sure." Tyler replied, standing up. "Do you two want to come with us?"

"Oh no thanks. It's a little too early for me." Rebecca asked.

"Harvey? You in?" Ryan asked.

"No thank you." Harvey shook his head.

"But you go enjoy yourselves." Rebecca smiled. She waited until the guys were out of the conference room before speaking again. "We banged it out in one night?" She chuckled. "Really Harvey?"

"It was the truth." He smiled, getting up from his side of the desk and walking to her side. He leaned up against the desk right next to her.

"Yeah, I guess it was." She smiled at him, moving in her chair so that her legs could brush up against his. "Thankfully I don't think they realized what you really meant by that statement."

"I had fun working with you."

"I did too." She told him.

"And it wasn't just because of our unique negotiating skills."

She winked at him. "I save those negotiating skills exclusively for you."

He leaned in slowly, getting ready to kiss her. "I would certainly hope so…"

"Hey Harvey, do you have the file for the…" Louis barged into the conference room. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's ok Louis." He said, moving to put some distance between him and Rebecca. "What did you need?"

"Just the file for the Robinson deposition. Donna said you were the last one to have it but she didn't know where it was." Louis explained.

"It's in my office. Go on and I'll be right there in a moment." He told the man.

"Ok." He then closed the door to the conference room and walked down the hallway.

Once Louis was out of their sight, he chuckled.

"So that was Louis?" She laughed. "Ok. He is exactly how I pictured him in my head."

He smiled. "Sorry he interrupted us."

"It's ok." She nodded. "But I should get back to my office I have depositions to prepare for."

"How about we go out to dinner tonight?" He offered. "I could get reservations at the new French restaurant that opened up."

"You mean we could go on a proper, fancy date?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "We can celebrate the fact that we worked together so well."

"Ok. I'd like that."

"I'll pick you up at 7 if that's ok."

"It's perfect." She grabbed her stuff and stood up. "I'll see you later."

He watched her leave before leaving the conference room and heading to his office. He saw Louis standing over by his records.

"Don't worry." Louis assured him. "I'm not touching any of them."

"Good." He stated, walking over to his desk. The file Louis needed was under two other files. He found it quickly and handed it to the man. "Here you go."

"Thanks." Louis nodded. "So what did I accidentally interrupt back there? Is she a client?"

"No." He shook his head. "That was Rebecca Monroe."

Louis looked confused for a moment. "Oh, that was the lawyer that beat you. Right?"

"Yes Louis." He shook his head. "She did."

"So are you two bow chicka bow wow-ing now?"

He looked at Louis like he had grown a second head. "Louis, that is none of your business."

"Actually Harvey is in a real relationship with Rebecca." Donna interjected as she entered the office.

He noticed that she didn't have anything in her hands, like a file or messages. "Did you come in here just to say that?" Harvey asked, giving her a glaring look.

"Maybe." She smirked.

"Wait a second." Louis said loudly. "You're telling me that Harvey Specter is in a relationship?"

"Yep." Donna nodded.

"Donna…" He didn't want Louis to know all about his personal life.

"Well this is great." Louis smiled. "It's also incredibly weird."

He looked over at Louis. "Ok that's enough. Goodbye Louis."

"Fine." Louis held his hands up and walked out of the room. "I thought we were finally bonding, but I guess I was wrong."

He waited until Louis was gone. "Why did you have to tell Louis about Rebecca?"

"Because it's fun." Donna answered. "Besides, I wasn't aware you two were keeping it a secret."

"I don't think we are." Truthfully he didn't know if they were telling people. But Louis wasn't on the list of people he wanted to tell at first.

"Fine." She sighed. "I guess I'll cancel the billboard announcing it."

He chuckled. "That would be a good idea."


	11. Chapter 11

Synchronicity

Chapter Eleven

Rebecca was putting the finishing touches on her hair, putting hairspray on the light curls she made when there was a knock on the door. She glanced at the time and saw that it should be Harvey at the door. So she took one last look before grabbing her purse and heading to the door.

Opening it, she was happy to see Harvey standing in front of her in a black suit. He was smiling at her with that grin that always made her knees go weak. "Hey."

"Hi." He pulled his arm from behind him, showing her that he brought her flowers.

"You didn't have to get me flowers." She smiled, taking them from him.

"That's not what Donna said when I had her make the dinner reservation this morning." He smirked.

"This morning?" She giggled, putting them on the table by the door. "You had her make the reservation before you asked me to dinner? Were you just that sure I would say yes?"

"What can I say?" He chuckled. "I'm a cocky bastard."

"I guess it's a good thing I have a weakness for bad boys." She closed the gap between them and gave him a kiss. She felt his arm wrap around her waist, pulling her close to him.

"As much as I truly hate to say this…" He groaned, pulling away after a moment. "If we don't leave now we'll miss our reservation."

She placed one more kiss on his cheek before leaning over his ear. "Ok. There will be plenty of time for that after dinner."

He smiled and held out his arm for her to take. "Let's go. Ray is waiting downstairs."

* * *

"Oh my God, please tell me you didn't really do that!" She laughed during dinner.

"I did." He grinned. "In my defense Louis was being insufferable and it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"So you thought it seemed like a good idea for you to piss in his office and blame his cat?" She shook her head as she continued to laugh.

"It was hilarious at the time. He got so mad at that damn cat." He defended himself. Taking a look at her face, he knew she wasn't really judging him. "You'll see if you ever have to deal with him on a case. He is something else, and not always in a good way."

"But still…" She chuckled. "You seem to go out of your way sometimes to torment him."

"He deserves it…most of the time." Harvey pointed out.

"If you say so."

"So you have never had a coworker that you like to prank?" He questioned.

"Nope." She shook her head.

"Have you ever had a co-worker that just pissed you off most of the time?"

"Not really." She shook her head again. "I can get along with most people pretty well. Most people don't really bother me."

"Well then you are lucky." He chuckled.

"I think you are pretty lucky because you have an associate like Mike." She pointed out. "You two are like Batman and Robin."

"I'm ok with that comparison as long as you recognize I'm Batman." He smirked.

"Do that mean I have been sleeping with Bruce Wayne?" She chuckled. "How did you find Mike?"

He was caught off guard by the question and hesitated on answering for a moment. While he didn't want to outright lie to her, he couldn't tell her the truth. So he had to be careful with his words. "Well I had meetings with a lot of different graduates. He was different than every other candidate so I hired him."

"He's important to you." She noted.

"I guess so." That was an understatement. Mike was like another brother to him and he would do anything to protect him. After all, he brought him into this messed up situation of pretending to be a lawyer. While he hoped and believed they had covered their tracks enough, there was always the fear hanging in the back of his mind that someday it would all fall apart.

After all, it started out with just him, Mike and Donna knowing about Mike's secret. Now it ballooned to include Rachel, Jessica, Louis Trevor and Lola. He knew there was a chance that Mike's secret would come out one day. But he was prepared for that and knew he would take the fall for him, especially now that Mike was marrying Rachel. He would do whatever he could to make sure their lives weren't ruined by this.

"Hey." She said, drawing his attention back. "Where'd you go there?"

"Just thinking." He shook it off. "Sorry."

"It's ok." She assured him with a smile.

"So…" He felt the need to change the subject. "How are you liking your firm? You've been there long enough to get a good feel for the place. What's it like?"

"It's ok I guess." She shrugged. "I think I liked my firm back in LA better. As corny as it seems, the people in my old firm would actually help each other out. We were a close knit group of people. Here…well the only people I've gotten a chance to know are Xavier and Adrienne."

She paused for a moment. "Adrienne is very quiet. Sometimes I get the feeling she is studying me, but I don't know why. And Xavier…well he is something else. I mean I'm grateful that he provided me an opportunity to leave LA, but sometimes I get the feeling he didn't do it entirely because he thought I was smart if you know what I mean."

Up until now she hadn't talked much about her time in LA or about her past. He didn't press it because he knew that she left LA because of whatever issues she had with her father. He was cutting her some slack. But it was nice to know more about her time there.

"Do you miss LA?"

"Sometimes." She admitted. "For the most part I liked my life there. I liked the weather and my house. I had a lot of friends there."

He wasn't sure what to say to that so he stayed silent.

"But I'm here now and here is pretty damn good." She smiled, reaching across the table to touch his hand.

"Only pretty damn good?" He scoffed playfully.

"Well I can't let you get too big of an ego." She smirked.

He noticed they were both done with their meals now. "Did you want to get dessert here? We could try their crème Brule."

"We could…" She trailed off. "Or we could back to either your place or mine."

"I'll get the check."

* * *

They decided on going back to Harvey's place. While in the hallway walking towards his door her phone rang. She pulled it from her purse and saw it was her father. Not wanting to ruin her night by talking to him, she pushed the ignore button.

"You can take the call if you want." Harvey told her as he unlocked his door. "I don't mind. God knows I've had to take my fair share of calls while with you."

"I know." She smiled, entering his place. "But that call was my father and I would rather suffer a thousand papercuts all over my body than talk to him." As soon as she finished saying that, her phone rang again.

"Apparently he really wants to talk to you though." Harvey chuckled.

"I should just change my phone number and see how long I can avoid him that way." She sighed.

"You know you never said exactly what he did to warrant your anger." Harvey pointed out.

She looked over at him.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I just…"

"No." She shook her head and interrupted him. "If you want to know, I can tell you. I trust that you won't go around telling anyone about it. I just need a drink first." She made a beeline for his mini bar and poured both of them a drink. "Trust me, you'll want one too."

He took the drink she offered and then she downed the whole drink in one long gulp.

"You really don't have to tell me if you don't want to." He assured her.

"I should tell you though, so you know who you're really dealing with if you ever run into my father again." She reasoned. "You see, my mom died when I was ten and he is the one who killed her."

She watched as his face turned to one of shock, followed by confusion.

"That's a pretty serious allegation." He finally said.

"It's a long story…"

"If you are willing to tell me, I want to hear it." He motioned to the couch.

She went over and sat on the couch, watching as he sat on the other side of it and faced her. "My dad was horrible to my mom. He didn't physically beat her, but there was plenty of emotional abuse. I knew there was something wrong between them because they never seemed fully happy together, but I didn't know the extent of it because I was a kid. My aunt on my dad's side kept my mom's diaries safe after my mom died. After my aunt died, I found them and I read them. They detailed everything throughout their entire relationship. He bullied her, he belittled her and drove her to believe the only way out was to leave."

"One night I was staying over at my aunt's house so my parents could go to a fundraiser for my dad's reelection campaign. They must have gotten into an argument about something because my mom took her car and left the house. I think, judging from where they found her, she was on her way to come get me." She paused, sniffling.

"He followed her in his car and hit the back of her car with his, running her off the road and sending her car head first into a tree. She died that night."

She looked over and saw that Harvey was silent. He seemed to be processing everything so she stayed quiet for a moment.

"How did he manage to cover it up?" Harvey asked.

"He is a Senator." She chuckled. "All he had to do was bribe the right people and the reports were buried. He typed up a suicide note for her and told me that she willingly drove her car into the tree because she was depressed. I was ten at the time. I didn't know any better so I believed him. I didn't think my own father would lie to me about something like that."

"He did that to you at the age of ten?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I didn't know what to think. It didn't make a lot of sense at the time. I mean I knew she wasn't entirely happy with him, but she was happy around me. I was young and I had no reason not to believe him because no kid thinks their parent would lie to them about something as important as that. I know you understand a little of what that's like."

"Yeah. I do." He nodded. "How did you find out?"

"My aunt died about seven months ago." She answered. "She made me the executor of her will so when I was boxing up her stuff and getting the house ready to go on the market I found a box with my name on it. She had kept a diary of everything that happened after my mom's death. I confronted him about everything."

"What happened when you talked to him?"

She sighed, remembering that conversation like it was yesterday.

" _Well, this is a pleasant surprise!" Samuel greeted as he opened the door._

 _He tried to hug her but she rebuffed him._

" _What's wrong?" He asked._

" _We need to talk, and I need you to be completely honest with me." She told him, coming into her childhood home and standing in the atrium._

" _Ok." He nodded. "What's going on?"_

 _She pulled a stack of papers out of her purse and handed them to him. The stack was photocopies of her mom's diaries "What do you have to say for yourself?"_

 _She watched his face as he read through the papers._

" _Dammit Karen." He cursed. "Why couldn't she just let it go instead of involving you in this?"_

" _So it is true." She scoffed. "What the hell did you do?"_

" _I did what I needed to!" He yelled. "She was going to leave me. I couldn't have that in an election year so I followed her. I didn't mean to hit her car that hard. I just wanted to scare her into stopping so we could talk. The next thing I knew her car went into the tree."_

" _Did you even stop? Did you try to help her?" It was a question she had ever since reading everything, but she was afraid of the answer._

" _I…if I had stayed…Rebecca, I couldn't be there when the police came."_

" _You didn't even try to help her? You let her die alone?" She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You son of a bitch!"_

" _Hey!" He yelled. "Watch your damn tongue. I'm still your father."_

" _You are not my father anymore. You killed my mother!" She yelled. "And then you made me think she killed herself. You messed with my mind by writing that suicide note for her. I have lived with the belief that my mother didn't love me enough to try and get help to stay with me instead of taking a coward's way out for the majority of my life. But it was really you who was the coward this whole time and not her."_

" _I will not stand here and let you talk to me like this." He refused, walking out of the room._

 _She followed him. "You're going to listen to every Goddamn thing I have to say to you because I'm not finished. You've been a horrible father. And I've tried to cut you some slack since her death because I thought maybe it was just really hard for you to be around me with her gone. I thought it was too painful for you. But the truth is you just couldn't care less about her or me."_

" _That's not true." He argued. "I did this for you."_

" _Oh spare me the lies." She scoffed. "You didn't do this for anyone other than yourself. You wanted to be in politics so badly and you wanted to win your reelection campaign so you bribed people to cover up what you did so you could go on and live your life like you did nothing wrong. But you did do something wrong. You killed my mother."_

" _The only real proof you have is the ramblings of a woman who hated being in my shadow all of her life. No one else will ever tell you anything and no one will ever believe you." He explained to her._

" _Maybe they will and maybe they won't. But I think it is worth trying."_

" _What do you want to keep this quiet?"_

" _You're actually going to try and bribe me now?" She couldn't believe the nerve of this man. "I don't want anything from you."_

" _But you are going to keep quiet about this, right?" He asked._

 _She truthfully hadn't thought about what she was going to do with this information until a moment ago. Her sole focus had been figuring out how to confront him. Maybe she should come forward and give this information to the police though. "No. I think it's time this secret came out."_

" _You don't have any real proof." He told her. "If you go to the police they will laugh you right out the door because the only thing you have is circumstantial. But you are smart enough and have that fancy law degree so you should know that."_

" _I'll just find some real proof then." She told him._

" _You won't be able to find any real proof. All the real proof is gone and no one involved in this will ever talk." He explained._

" _Fine. Then here is what I am asking for. I don't want to have anything to do with you…ever again." She told him. "We're done."_

" _No, we aren't." He shook his head. "I still need you to be the doting daughter you have always been."_

" _You need me for some photo ops?" She scoffed. "No way. Screw you."_

" _Yes way." He sighed. "Look we can debate this all night long. But you are going to do what I want."_

" _There's no way I'm agreeing to that." She argued._

" _Yes you are." He told her._

"So why didn't you just turn him in?" Harvey asked once she was done.

"It's complicated." She shook her head. She looked over at Harvey and saw that he was staring intently at her, studying her face.

"He has something he's holding over you."

She sighed. "He has leverage against someone else I used to care about. I promised I would keep their secret and I don't want break my word. It's something that in the wrong hands could destroy this person's life. So in exchange I don't turn my father in, he gets a photo op with me twice a year and I don't ruin the other person's life."

"You need to turn him in. He killed your mother and he deserves to be in jail." Harvey pointed out.

"Don't you think I know that? Don't you think that I want to see him behind bars more than anything?" She yelled. "It makes me sick that he gets to walk around without a care in the world. But there are two problems with that. One is I don't have any concrete evidence that places him at the scene or ties him to any cover up and two is if I go against him, he will destroy another person's life and it will all be my fault. I can't do that."

"While your loyalty is admirable, are you sure you are willing to let your father literally get away with murder just to help this person?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I am. I wish the situation was different. But when I give my word on something, I mean it."

"It's David, isn't it?" He asked.

It didn't sound like an accusation or a judgement. He didn't even sound jealous, which was good because he had nothing to be jealous about. She sighed. "Yes. But I'm not going to say anything else about it. He trusted me with his secret and it's not mine to tell. So please don't ask. I have to protect him as best I can."

"Do you still care about him?"

The question was a quiet one but also a complicated one. "I care about him more like you would a cousin that you talk to once a year. Look, I don't expect you to understand completely. But I made a promise to him that I would never sell him out. I can't go back on my word, not even for something like this."

"I think I understand these types of promises and sacrifices better than you realize." He chuckled. "I'm sorry you have to deal with this. But I guess it explains why you needed to leave California."

"I couldn't stay there anymore." She explained.

He reached over and gave her a hug.

"Can you please not do anything about this or tell anyone?" She asked.

"I won't say anything." He assured her. "I'm just sorry that you had to go through that and that your father is such a prick."

She pulled away and gave him a small smile. "Me too."


	12. Chapter 12

Synchronicity

Chapter Twelve

Harvey strolled into the office like he owned the place and stood in front of the desk, waiting for the other person to acknowledge them.

"Did we have an appointment?" David asked, looking up from his computer.

"No." Harvey shook his head. "But this won't take long."

"I'm not sure why Harvey Specter is in my office right now, but if I had to guess I'd say it is about Rebecca."

"And your guess would be right." Harvey nodded.

"You were at the restaurant when I had lunch with her." He pointed out. "I suspect you two are involved and you are the 'it's complicated' she told me about. Tell me, do you always chaperone her working lunches and then visit her exes where they work?"

"No. But there is a first time for everything."

David sighed. "So what can I do for you?"

"Rebecca is keeping a secret for you."

"Possibly." He conceded.

"She needs you to tell her it is ok if that secret were to get out."

"Why the hell would I do that?" David chuckled. "The very definition of the word secret means it's something you don't want others to know."

"Because your secret is being used against her as leverage to keep her from doing the right thing about another matter that is important to her." Harvey explained, doing his best to keep things as vague as possible.

"I would do a lot of things to help her, but that is one thing I'm afraid I can't do." David told him. "My secret could destroy everything I've worked hard to get in my life."

"You obviously know who I am, right?"

"Yes." David nodded.

"So you know my reputation."

David smirked. "Yeah. It was perfect until Rebecca came to town and showed you who was the true boss."

He let that comment go. "Then you should know that I have an excellent track record of getting people out of things that would normally destroy their lives."

He watched as David remained silent. He could see the wheels spinning in the other man's head.

"What exactly are you suggesting?"

"You give Rebecca the power to take the leverage off the table. Let her do what she needs to do without fearing that she will destroy your life. In exchange for that, if your secret ever comes out I will get you out of your legal troubles for free." Harvey explained.

"You would make that kind of a commitment without knowing what my secret is first?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not a moron. I had my investigator find out what your secret was before I came in here. It actually only took her a day a half to discover it."

"Rebecca didn't tell you what it was?" David asked.

"No." Harvey shook his head. "She has kept her word to you."

"Does she even know you are here fighting her battle for her?"

"No. But I'm only here trying to help."

"Damn. I wish I could be a fly on the wall when she finds out about this conversation and confronts you about it. Just how well do you know her? I only ask because if you knew her well you would know she doesn't need anyone else to fight her battles for her. And she doesn't appreciate people sticking their nose in where it doesn't belong."

Harvey took a deep breath. He refused to get into a pissing match with this guy, even though David was clearly baiting him. "Do we have a deal or not?"

"I don't think so." He shook his head.

"You may think that the money laundering you did to get your first client will destroy you, but I have kept people out of trouble who have done much worse crimes than that." Harvey pointed out.

"Oh I'm sure you're a great lawyer and whatever, but we don't have a deal." David laughed. "Now please get out of my office. I have actual work to do."

He left the office without saying another word, angry that this hadn't gone the way he thought it would. He must be off his game because he wasn't able to get David to do what he wanted.

While he believed Rebecca's loyalty to David was admirable and beyond sexy to him, he also didn't feel right about letting her father continue to get away with murder. Although this idea didn't pan out, he wouldn't stop trying. There had to be a way to make him pay for what he did. He could only think of one other way, but it would take some time.

* * *

When Rebecca heard Harvey's signature knock, she saved her word document and then went to the door. She opened it to see him holding up a large bag of Chinese food. "Well you're a lot cuter than the last Chinese delivery guy."

"I would hope so." He chuckled, leaning in to give her a kiss.

After the kiss she took the bag of food. "I don't know which I'm happier to see right now…you or the food."

He came up behind her and wrapped his arm around her waist before kissing her neck. "I think it should be me."

She turned around to face him. "But I'm really hungry."

"So am I." He seemed like he was going to say something else but her phone rang.

She got up and went over to the kitchen counter to see who was calling her. After looking at it, she looked at him. They had a rule that if the other person's phone rang while they were together and it seemed important, the person could answer the phone without the other one getting upset. This seemed like an important call so she felt she needed to take it. "I'm sorry. I should take this."

"Ok." He nodded.

She answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Is now a bad time?" David asked.

"Depends. What's going on?" She questioned.

"Harvey came by my office today."

"What?" She chuckled, heading in to the kitchen to talk to David in private. "What you do mean he came to see you?"

"He waltzed into my office like he owned the place." David laughed. "I gotta say I think he is a douchebag and you could do better."

She rolled her eyes. "Ok. Thanks for your opinion. Why was he at your office?" She asked, hoping she was wrong about the reason.

"He actually wanted me to tell you that it wouldn't be the end of the world if my secret came out."

She wasn't wrong. "Did he tell you why?"

"He gave some vague bullshit about someone using me as leverage against you." David laughed. "But that's wrong, right?"

She closed her eyes for a moment as she thought about what to say.

"He's not wrong." David said quietly. "Someone is using me as leverage against you?"

"Not leverage exactly…" She explained.

"How bad of a situation is it?"

"Look, Harvey had no right to come and see you like that." She explained. "I'm sorry he did it."

"I don't care about Harvey showing up." David told her. "Are you ok? Are you in some kind of trouble?"

"No." She told him. As much as she would like to be able to tell him what was going on, she couldn't. This was her mess and she would figure it out on her own. "I'm fine. I appreciate the heads up about Harvey coming by."

"You know you can tell me if something is going on, right?"

"I know." She assured him.

"You should probably also know that he is painfully aware of what my secret is."

"How?" She asked. "I didn't tell him anything."

"He apparently had his investigator find the dirt on me."

"Shit. I'm so sorry."

"It's ok." He told her. "I know you wouldn't have told him. I just figured you deserved to know what he had done."

"Thanks." She hung up before he could say anything else. Taking a deep breath, she went back out to her living room.

"Everything ok?" Harvey asked.

"What the hell did you do today?'

"I…"

"Don't even bother answering because I know what you did." She interrupted him. "You went to see David. And what's worse is that you hired your investigator to find out what his secret was."

"Yes, I did." He admitted sheepishly.

"So what happened to you agreeing you wouldn't do anything?" She scoffed. "Or did you conveniently forget that?"

"I was only trying to help you." He told her.

"I don't need your help." She crossed her arms over her chest defiantly.

"I beg to differ." He scoffed, getting up and walking over to her. "You are letting your father get away with murder. I thought I could offer David a deal to get him to let you disarm your father's threats."

"You had no right to do that." She told him. "This isn't your battle."

"No. You're right." He shrugged. "It's yours. But the only reason I tried to help was because I care about you and I want to see you get justice for your mother's death. So if you really want to be mad at me, then go ahead. But just know that my interfering came from a good place."

She was prepared to be mad at him for a while about this. After all, he told her he wouldn't do anything but then turned around three days later and confronted David about it. Not to mention he also had David investigated so he could learn what the dirt her father had on him was. While she was still annoyed, he had a point. He was just trying to help. It was misguided, but sweet. And he just admitted he cared about her, which made her smile.

"Why are you smiling?" He looked at her like she was crazy.

"You just said you care about me." She came over and wrapped her arms around his neck.

He put his arms around her waist. "Yeah, so?"

"You don't say that kind of thing often." She pointed out, leaning in to kiss him. "It's nice to hear."

"So all I have to do to get you to stop being mad at me is tell you I care about you?" He joked.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm still mad. I still don't like that you went behind my back and tried to fix my problems for me. But at least now I understand the reasoning behind your actions."

"I wasn't trying to make you mad."

"I know." She nodded. "Promise me that you won't do something like that again. If you have a plan or an idea about something I could do, just talk to me. Don't go behind my back again. Please?"

"Ok." He said, leaning in to kiss her again. He grabbed her ass with both hands and pressed her up against his body as hard as he could.

An involuntary moan escaped as she felt his arousal pressing up against her.

"You like that?" He asked, whispering in her ear.

"Oh yeah." She said, letting him guide her to the couch. She watched as he started undoing his pants. "I guess it's a good thing Chinese food is good cold."


	13. Chapter 13

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirteen

"Are you sure about this?" Rebecca asked as they pulled up to a house in one of Harvey's vintage cars.

"Of course I am." He smiled, looking over at her. "We're in a relationship now. Mike and Rachel are having a dinner party to celebrate their new house. It's the kind of thing you bring your plus one to, right?"

"Yeah. You're right." She nodded. It had been about two months since Harvey had agreed to give their relationship a try. He still hadn't been able to call her his girlfriend, but that was just a word. It didn't really matter to her because she knew he was still trying to get used to being in a real relationship. She didn't want to push him into anything too fast. "I just want to make sure that you're ok with this."

Aside from a couple of conversations with Mike and having lunch with Donna once a week, she hadn't really talked to any of the other people in his life. He talked about them to her, but she felt like this was a big step to let her meet them in a social setting.

"Your worlds are colliding tonight. Once I know your friends there is no going back." She pointed out. "Are you ok with that?"

He leaned over and gave her a soft kiss. "I'm more than ok with that."

She smiled. "Ok. Then let's go."

He turned off the engine and got out of the car, walking over to open her door for her. He extended his arm out to her for her to grab on to.

She noticed he was staring at her. "What?" She chuckled. "Do I have something on my face?"

"You're nervous." He stated with a smirk on his face.

"I am not!" She scoffed.

"Yeah, you are." He laughed. "You're the one that's actually nervous. That's why you tried to get me to say I'm nervous."

She knew that denying it would only make it worse so she decided to come clean. "Fine. I'm nervous. Happy now?"

"You don't need to be nervous." He told her.

"In that house there are people that mean the world to you." She explained. "I want them to like me."

"They will." He nodded. "C'mon."

They walked up to the door and he knocked. Then he grabbed her free hand and gave it a squeeze.

"You just had to be fashionably late, didn't you Harvey?" Mike joked after opening the door.

"Well you know the party can't officially start until I arrive anyway." He smirked.

Mike looked her way. "It's nice to see you again, Rebecca. Welcome to our home."

"Thanks for inviting me." She smiled, seeing a woman come up next to Mike.

"This is my fiancée, Rachel. Rachel, this is Rebecca." Mike introduced.

"It's nice to meet you." Rachel greeted.

"You too." She nodded, holding out the vase in her hand. "We got you a bamboo for your new home. It's supposed to bring good luck."

"She means she got you a bamboo." Harvey pointed out. "I didn't realize you're supposed to give people a gift just because they moved."

Mike chuckled. "That does tend to be the social norm though."

"Thank you, Rebecca." Rachel smiled, taking it from her. "C'mon. Let's go get a drink."

She was surprised when Rachel grabbed her hand and practically dragged her away. Once they were in the kitchen she saw Donna.

"Hey!" Donna greeted with a smile. "Look who is finally here."

"I know." She sighed. "I told Harvey it wasn't polite to be late."

"It's alright." Rachel assured her. "We all know Harvey will be late to things like this."

"So we make sure that if we invite him anywhere in a group setting, we tell him to come at least 30 minutes before everyone else. That way he is actually on time." Donna explained.

She laughed. "That is a genius idea!" She took the drink Donna offered her.

"So Donna tells me that you are a kick-ass lawyer." Rachel said.

"I try my best."

"She's just being modest." Donna stated. "After all, you beat Harvey. No one else can claim that."

"And you've gotten him to bring you to one of these." Rachel chuckled. "That is a miracle. He's never brought anyone before."

She couldn't help but smile at that confession.

"Would you like to see the rest of the house?" Rachel offered.

"Sure!" She agreed.

* * *

Harvey sat down on the couch in Mike's new living room. Mike came by and handed him a beer.

"So you brought Rebecca." Mike stated.

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I'm glad. You've been different since you met her."

"Different how?" He asked out of curiosity.

"Happier. Calmer." Mike answered.

He didn't know what to say to that so he stayed quiet and nursed his drink. A few moments later, Rachel, Donna and Rebecca came into the living room giggling like schoolgirls. He shared a look of amusement with Mike.

"Something funny you want to share?" Mike asked the trio.

"No." Rachel shook her head as she tried to stop laughing. "Dinner should be ready if you want to head into the dining room.

"Good." Mike sighed. "I'm starving."

* * *

About halfway through dinner, Mike clinked a spoon against his glass. "So I'd like to thank you for coming by tonight to see our new house, eat our food and drink our booze. But a new house isn't the only change we're going through."

"I'm pregnant." Rachel smiled.

"I knew it!" Donna exclaimed loudly, going over and giving her friend a hug.

"That's great you guys." Rebecca smiled.

"It sure is." Harvey smiled, raising his glass to them.

"Does this mean you will be moving up the wedding?" Donna asked.

"Yes." Rachel nodded. "I don't want to be too pregnant walking down the aisle."

* * *

Harvey stood by the railing of the back porch and looked at Mike's new backyard. "I can't believe you really moved out here."

"Rachel fell in love with this place. I couldn't say no to her." Mike replied.

"It is nice…a little too suburban for my tastes. But I can see you being happy here." He admitted. "Just remember that living out here doesn't give you an excuse to be late for work or take forever to get back to work if I need you for a case."

Mike laughed. "I know."

"So you're gonna be a dad." Harvey sighed. "I did not see that one coming."

"None of us did." Mike chuckled. "It definitely wasn't planned. But I'm excited."

"Robert's going to kill you when he finds out you knocked up his only daughter before you married her." Harvey smirked.

"I know. I'm not looking forward to telling him." Mike groaned. "Promise you'll remember me after I'm dead."

Harvey chuckled. "Ok. What was your name again?"

They were silent for a moment. "So…Rebecca…she's great."

"Yeah, she is pretty great." Harvey agreed.

"Rachel seems to like her a lot. Want to go on a double date sometime?"

"No way." He laughed. "I don't do double dates."

"C'mon! You don't know what you're missing. Double dates can be surprisingly fun." Mike teased. "But seriously, I see why you like you her so much."

Harvey looked at his friend. "You better enjoy this because I don't say it often. But you were right."

"I know." Mike smirked. "What was I right about this time?"

"I'm enamored with her. I'm besotted with her. I like like her." He admitted, remembering their conversation in the car a few months ago.

Mike burst out into laughter. "Like like? What is this, junior high?"

Harvey scoffed. "Would you like me to call Robert right now and tell him exactly what you did to get his precious daughter pregnant in graphic detail?"

"Ouch. That's harsh, even for you." Mike chuckled.

"Hey Mike, Rachel is looking for you." Rebecca said from the doorway.

"I better go see what she needs." Mike said, leaving him alone with her.

Rebecca came out and stood next to him. "I see why you care about these people so much. I mean, I knew Donna was awesome. But Mike and Rachel are good people too."

"Yeah." He nodded. "They are. I'm glad you came here tonight."

He saw a mischievous grin form on her face. "What's going on in that mind of yours?"

"I had an interesting idea." She said. "What would you say if I asked you to come with me to see the upstairs guest bathroom?"

"Why would we…" The he realized what she meant. "Really?" He smirked. "You wanna do that in their bathroom?"

"Do you think it crosses a line?" She asked.

"Maybe, but I'm alright with crossing lines from time to time." He told her, leaning in to kiss her. "I'm just wondering what brought that idea on."

"I can't keep my hands to myself around you." She whispered in his ear. "And I don't think I can wait until you take me home."

"Well then, let's go find this guest bathroom." He smirked.

* * *

Harvey watched as Rebecca left the bathroom and brushed her hair. He looked her up and down. His old Harvard shirt that she had commandeered as a pajama shirt rested mid-thigh on her. When she reached up to brush her hair, the shirt crept up higher. He liked to watch her every night to see how high the shirt would ride up. She stopped in front of his mirror for a moment before finishing and putting the brush down on the bedside table. Then she looked at him.

"What?" She asked.

"What do you mean what?" He chuckled.

"You're staring at me."

"Can you blame me?" He smirked.

"No. I guess not." She climbed into bed and kissed him. "So Rachel is pregnant…"

"That was surprising." He stated. "I don't know if they are aware what they've gotten themselves into. Hopefully that kid takes after Rachel more than Mike. We don't need a mini-Mike running around."

She laughed. "What about a mini-Harvey?"

"Mike is a mini-Harvey." He laughed, looking at her. She seemed to be deep in thought about something. "Why?"

"I was just curious what your thoughts on it were." She explained.

"Thoughts on what exactly?" He wasn't sure he liked where this conversation was going.

"Kids." She sighed. "You know, are you pro-kid? Anti-kid? Ambivalent?"

He sighed. This was the conversation he hoped not to have tonight but it seemed there was no way around it now. "I'm not exactly pro-kid."

"What does that mean?"

"Just that I have once never thought that my life needed kids to be complete. I don't have some deep dark, burning desire to become a dad, but I also don't hate kids."

"Ok." She reached over and gave him a kiss before laying down and pulling the covers over her.

"That's it?" He asked.

She looked over at him. "What?"

"You ask me something like that and then don't even answer the question yourself?"

She got back up into a sitting position. "Ok. If you want to know, I'll tell you. I am very much pro-kid. I'd love to have a boy and a girl, in that order so that the boy could help protect the girl from the jerks in school." She paused. "But you can stop looking so panicked because I didn't ask you that because I've gone baby crazy or anything. I was simply curious about your opinion. Besides, it's going to be difficult for me to get pregnant so you don't have to freak out. Now I'm tired so I'm going to sleep now."

"I'm not panicked." He argued.

"Yeah, Harvey, you do look panicked. But it's ok." She sighed. "Now can I go to sleep?"

She didn't wait for him to say anything before turning her back to him and pulling the covers over herself. He couldn't help himself. He had to know now.

"What happened?" He asked softly.

"It doesn't matter." She sighed.

"It does to me." He said, touching her shoulder.

"Fine." She turned to lay on her back. "I got pregnant in college. So David and I got engaged. I mean, we were already together for almost four years and were planning on getting married at some point. So we just moved everything up on our timeline."

She paused before continuing. "About six weeks later I had a lot of pain, but I was in the middle of a mock trial. I didn't do anything because I wasn't bleeding so I didn't think it was a miscarriage. When I finally went to my doctor I found out it was an ectopic pregnancy. It ruptured and I had to have surgery to remove a fallopian tube. Ok? Happy now?"

She turned away from him again.

He wasn't happy now and moved over to wrap his arm around her but she wriggled out of his grasp. "Rebecca…"

"Harvey, drop it." She commanded.

"How is it you can drop a bomb like that and then not let me say anything?" He asked quietly.

She got out of the bed and sighed. "Because it's a highly personal thing that I had to go through and I don't feel like talking about it anymore."

"But…"

"I said I don't want to talk about it and I mean it." She told him.

He could see she was getting angry and he knew he should probably drop it. But he couldn't seem to do it. "I just…"

"No!" She yelled. "I'm done talking about it. God, I'm sorry I brought up a kids conversation in the first place. I'm going to go sleep on the couch. Do not follow me."

He watched her leave the bedroom and sighed. He should have let it go.

* * *

Rebecca sat on Harvey's balcony with a drink in her hand. She did try to go to sleep for about a half hour but she wasn't able to calm down enough to sleep. So she grabbed a drink and headed out to get fresh air.

She shouldn't have snapped at him like that because the truth was he didn't do anything wrong. It was only natural that he would want to talk about it. She downed the rest of her drink and released a heavy sigh.

Going back inside, she put her glass on the table and quietly walked back into the bedroom. The lights were out and she wondered if Harvey was asleep already. She climbed into bed gently in case he was asleep, but as she turned to face him she saw his eyes open.

"I'm sorry." She apologized.

"You don't need to apologize." He whispered. "I shouldn't have…"

"Harvey, you didn't do anything wrong." She interrupted, touching his face with the palm of her hand. "I don't think about what happened much because it always put me right back there. All the feelings of pain, guilt, shame and sadness just pile on me and I don't like it so I usually try to not go there."

"Why guilt and shame?"

"I should have gone to the doctor the first moment I had some pain. But I let it go for three days. I made everything worse because I wanted to win the mock trial." She explained. "Which I did, but I couldn't enjoy my victory."

"You couldn't have known what was going to happen and you couldn't have done anything to stop it."

"Maybe not, but I didn't do anything to make the situation better." She scoffed.

"You need to let it go and forgive yourself." He suggested.

"Maybe." She gave him a small smile. "I am sorry. I shouldn't have snapped like that."

"It's fine." He shrugged. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Can we just please not talk about it anymore?" She pleaded.

"Of course." He held out his arms for her and she smiled as she cuddled with him. In a matter of moments she was asleep.


	14. Chapter 14

Synchronicity

Chapter Fourteen

Two weeks later

Rebecca yawned as she walked into Harvey's living room. It was Saturday and she woke up to an empty bed so she got up to investigate where Harvey went. It didn't take her long to find him on his balcony doing sit-ups. Since he was shirtless, she had a wonderful view of his muscles and abs. She slid open the door to the balcony and sat down on the chair, intent on watching him.

"Good morning." He greeted without missing a beat of his workout.

"It is now." She grinned.

He looked over at her and winked. "Are you ogling me?"

"You're damn right I am." She giggled. "Can you blame me?"

"I'm not sure I like being objectified like that." He feigned offense.

"Oh I think you like it."

He stopped doing sit-ups and went to kneel in front of her. "I only like being objectified by you." Then he leaned in and kissed her.

"You're all sweaty." She laughed, touching his forehead. "How long have you been out here?"

"A while." He answered. "I was trying to let you sleep in."

"But then I had to wake up without you." She fake pouted.

"I'm sure there is some way I could make it up to you. Do you want to go get sweaty with me?"

"I was thinking more along the lines of a long, steamy shower." She answered, giving him a kiss.

"Shower works for me." He wasted no time in scooping her up in his arms and carrying her back inside.

* * *

"Are you busy tonight?" Harvey asked her after the shower as he put on his boxers.

"Not really." She told him. "Why?"

He watched as she brushed her hair while still wearing her towel around her body. "My brother called this morning while you were still asleep. He is in town with his wife this weekend and they wanted to have dinner with me tonight."

"Ok." She turned around and smiled at him. "I'm sure you'll have a good time with Marcus and Katie tonight."

"I was actually wondering if you wanted to go with me." He was caught off guard by the fact that he was nervous asking her to go with him.

"You want me to go to dinner with your family?" She gave him a strange look. "Really?"

"What?" He asked. "You don't want to?"

"No." She shook her head. "I mean yes. I'd love to! I'm just…surprised. That's all."

"I will make a reservation for four then." He smiled.

"Actually, I have a better idea." She came over and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Have them come here for dinner. I'll cook something."

"You don't have to do that."

"I want to." She assured him. "It will be fun."

"Alright." He kissed her. After a moment she pulled away.

"I should go shopping to get the ingredients." Her eyes lit up.

"You're really excited about this, aren't you?" He thought maybe she was offering to cook just as a nice gesture but the look on her face made him realize she really wanted to do it. He was filled with an emotion he couldn't quite place. It felt almost like pride.

"Of course I'm excited about this!" She laughed, lightly hitting him on the shoulder. "Is there anything your brother and his wife don't eat? I need to make sure I don't feed them something they hate."

"It doesn't matter what you make them." He smiled. "Marcus runs a restaurant so he'll eat anything. Hell, your food will probably kick his foods' ass."

She leaned in and gave him a quick kiss. "I should get dressed and get going."

"Can you spare an hour?" He asked.

Her eyebrow raised up. "Depends. What did you have in mind?"

He reached over and made the towel drop. "I think you know."

She laughed and threw her arms around his neck. "Yeah. I can definitely spare an hour for that."

* * *

"This smells delicious." Harvey told her as he came over and wrapped his arm around her waist.

"I hope it is. I haven't made this dish in a long time." She worried as there was a knock on the door.

"Don't worry so much." He kissed her cheek and grabbed her hand, taking her with him as he opened the door.

"Katie, nice to see you. You look lovely." Harvey greeted with a smile. He gave Katie a hug first since she was closer. "Marcus, you're looking old." He then gave his brother a quick hug.

"You're one to talk, Harvey. At least you'll always be older than me." Marcus laughed.

"But you still look like the older one." He teased.

"Still the same old douche as ever, I see." Marcus shook his head. Then he looked over her way. "You must be the infamous Rebecca."

"Yes." Harvey said, standing next to her and wrapping his arm around her waist again. "Marcus, Katie, this is Rebecca. She is…my girlfriend."

She couldn't help but whip her head around to stare at Harvey after he called her his girlfriend. That was the first time he had done it and it caught her off guard. He wasn't looking over at her so she focused her attention back on their guests.

"It's so nice to meet you both." She smiled.

"You too." Katie smiled at her.

"You know, Harvey's actually told us about your existence in his life, which means you must be pretty special to him." Marcus spoke up.

"Marcus…" Harvey chided.

"What?" Marcus laughed. "You've never told us about any other women."

"Why don't you guys come in?" Rebecca asked, moving off to the side so they could enter Harvey's penthouse.

She watched as they entered the penthouse and then closed the door. "Dinner is almost ready. I hope you don't mind that we didn't go to a restaurant."

"Are you kidding?" Marcus chuckled. "It's perfectly fine by me."

"Marcus doesn't always like giving other restaurants his money." Katie laughs.

"It feels like I'm cheating on my restaurant." Marcus explained.

She had gone into the kitchen and was surprised that Harvey came over with her. "Harvey, can you…"

She didn't even have to finish the sentence because he knew what she was asking.

"Of course. I'll go put on some music and get drinks poured for everyone." He smiled at her before heading over to the sound system.

She focused on getting everything finished up, aware that Katie was staring at her. Harvey and Marcus were standing over by the stereo system.

"Do you need help with anything?" Katie asked.

"No thanks." She looked over and smiled. "I think I have everything under control."

"Ok." Katie nodded.

She felt like Harvey's sister in law was studying her, as if she was trying to figure her out. It was a little nerve-wracking but she understood it. If Harvey truly didn't tell his brother about any other girls, then that would make her something rare. It would explain why Katie was making her feel like an animal in a zoo exhibit. She couldn't help but feel happy about the fact that Harvey had told his family about her as she started placing the food on the table. Between that and hearing him call her his girlfriend, she was in a great mood.

Harvey had gotten some slow jazz turned on and had poured the Sauvignon Blanc. Everyone was now sitting at the table while she went to go get the main dish. She carefully placed the main dish in the center and took a seat across from Harvey, sitting with Marcus on her left and Katie on her right.

"I hope everyone is hungry. We have chicken piccata, roasted vegetables, rice pilaf and some Italian bread. There's also dessert too." Rebecca told them.

"You made all of this?" Marcus asked as everyone started to pile food on their plates.

"She sure did." Harvey answered for her.

"I'm impressed." Marcus nodded.

"No." Harvey chuckled. "Trust me, you won't be impressed until you taste her food."

Marcus was quiet for a moment as he got some of everything on his plate. Then he started eating it. She knew it was rude to watch people as they ate but she was curious to see what he thought of her food.

"Well if this lawyer thing doesn't work out for you, I'd hire you in a heartbeat at my restaurant." He finally declared.

She smiled. "Thank you."

"So how did you two meet exactly?" Katie asked.

"I picked him up in a bar." She answered.

"No." Harvey argued. "We agreed that I picked you up. Remember?"

"He technically came up to me first." She conceded. "But I'm the one that really made the first move. He was too busy staring at me."

She smirked at Harvey as she heard Marcus laugh.

"You have no room to talk." Harvey told his brother. "Don't you remember that Katie was the one who asked you out?"

"I guess it just goes to show how we both need strong women in our lives." Marcus explained.

* * *

Harvey stood out on the balcony with Marcus. They each had a glass of Macallan 18 in their hands. "So how are things going with the restaurant?"

"Things are good." Marcus nodded. "I've debated about opening up another one, but I don't know if the timing is right yet."

"You're doing that well?"

"Yeah. Don't act so surprised." Marcus chuckled. "There may be some things in life that I'm terrible at, but running a successful restaurant is not one of those things."

"Ok. I stand corrected."

"So Harvey Specter finally has a girlfriend…it took you long enough."

"I could have had a thousand girlfriends already if I wanted to." He defended himself.

"I'm sure you could." Marcus assured his older brother. "But the fact remains that Rebecca is the first woman that you have ever talked to me about and now you're calling her your girlfriend. And don't think I didn't notice the way you bantered back and forth or how you finished each other's sentences all during dinner. You are comfortable around her. Just how serious are you getting?"

"We're taking it slow." He told his brother.

"Well if I were you, I would lock her down immediately. She can cook, she's smart, attractive and can put you in your place. That is a rare combination. But regardless…I like her. I think she is exactly what you needed."

"I don't know what you're talking about. I didn't need anything." He objected. "I was doing just fine before."

"Sure you were." Marcus laughed. "How long ago did you meet her?"

"About four months, give or take some time." Harvey answered.

"That's funny. Up until three months ago, I knew I could count on you to call five times a year…birthdays and Christmas. In the past three months you have called 8 times just to chat."

"What are you implying?" He asked, getting annoyed by this conversation.

"I'm merely pointing out that being with Rebecca has made you more accessible to your family. You're reaching out more. Trust me, that's a good thing. I don't want my kids to grow up without knowing their Uncle Harvey."

He wasn't even aware that he had been calling his younger brother more often. It was interesting to him that both Marcus and Mike were making comments about how Rebecca had changed him. He hadn't noticed it. At least the changes seemed to be good.

* * *

"So you and Harvey…" Katie trailed off as she helped dry some dishes.

"What about us?" Rebecca asked, washing a plate and looking over at Katie.

"You know, I was actually hoping that Harvey would invite you to dinner tonight. I didn't want to come right out and ask him to, but I was curious about what kind of woman was going to capture his attention enough for him to mention her to us."

"Well now that you have met me, how do I rate?" She chuckled nervously. It mattered to her that Harvey's brother and sister in law liked her.

"I like you." Katie smiled. "More importantly I think you are good for Harvey. But I am curious about something. How the hell did you get him to agree to a relationship?"

"I'm still not completely sure, to be honest." She laughed.

"Harvey doesn't like anything that seems weak. Ever since I've known him he has believed that relationships make him weaker…even family relationships have been a struggle for him to maintain."

"I know." She nodded. "He told me about his issues with is mother."

"I'm impressed that he told you about it." Katie chuckled. "It's so sad though. Neither of them are willing to budge and try to make things right, even though both of them are suffering."

"I think he just isn't ready yet."

"Well no one is getting any younger." Katie laughed. "It would be nice to someday have the entire family in the same place at the same time without yelling and anger."

Rebecca chuckled. "Yeah. I can imagine that's tough."

"So what about you? What's your family like?"

"I'm an only child. My mother is dead. She died when I was a kid." She replied. "My father and I don't speak much anymore. There's some bad blood between us. He did some things that I can't forgive."

"Wow." Katie chuckled. "You and Harvey appear to have more in common than I thought. But I am sorry about your mother. My parents are both dead. My dad died of cancer when I was 21 and my mom died shortly after I was born."

"I'm so sorry." Rebecca said. "It's hard to go through your teenage years without a mother."

"Yes, it is." Katie nodded. "But in some ways it makes you stronger."

"I agree." She nodded.

* * *

Harvey watched as Rebecca came out of the bathroom in his shirt. She then came over and got into bed with him, snuggling up against his chest.

"Thank you." She said, wrapping her arm around his waist and laying her head over where his heart was.

"For what?" He was confused about why she was thanking him.

"For letting me meet your brother and sister in law." She explained. "They are great. I really liked them."

"They really liked you." Harvey told her. "You completely won them over. On the way out, Katie said she wanted us to come and visit just so that she can see you again. Apparently I'm chopped liver now compared to you."

"Well I am pretty legendary." She smirked, moving back enough so she could give him a kiss.

"Yeah, you sure are."

She thought about bringing up the fact that Harvey had called her his girlfriend, but figured she would let it go just in case it would spook him. So instead, she moved her hand underneath the covers to try and pull down his boxers.

He chuckled. "What are you up to?"

"Just trying to retain my legendary status." She whispered into his ear before letting her head disappear underneath the covers.


	15. Chapter 15

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifteen

Rebecca opened her eyes, slowly adjusting to the brightness of the sun. She turned over in bed and saw Harvey still sleeping on his side, facing away from her. It was hard to believe it had only been five and a half months since the night she first met him. She moved his arm and cuddled up closer to him. Then she started kissing his neck.

"Morning." His raspy, newly awake voice whispered.

"Good morning." She smiled.

He opened his eyes and smiled at her.

She took a good look at him and frowned. There were beads of sweat on his forehead and he was deathly pale. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah." He groaned. "I'm great. Why?"

She put her hand on his forehead and scowled. "Harvey, you're hot."

"I know that." He smirked. "But I always like hearing it from you."

"No. I mean you're burning up. I think you've come down with something." She explained.

"I can't be sick." He shook his head. "I almost never get sick. I have an excellent immune system. And my body only aches because of what we did last night."

"Harvey, you are sick." She told him. "You need to stay in bed today."

"With you?" He asked happily. "That sounds like fun."

"Get your head out of the gutter for a moment." She chuckled. "This is serious. You need to rest and you need to drink plenty of fluids."

"If I'm staying in bed all day, then you are staying with me." He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer to him.

"You don't have to worry because I have no intention of leaving you alone today." She told him, kissing his forehead. "But you do need to listen to me and rest."

"As long as you'll be my nurse." He smirked.

She kissed his forehead again and then pulled herself away from him. "I'm going to call Donna and tell her you are taking a sick day. Then I'm getting you some water and Tylenol for your fever."

"Don't be gone too long." He called after her.

She closed the door to his bedroom and hurried into the living room to grab her phone. Donna answered on the second ring.

"Hey Donna, Harvey isn't coming into the office today."

"Are you two playing hooky to have some fun?" She teased.

"I wish." Rebecca laughed. "He has a fever. I think he's coming down with something."

"But he usually has a strong immune system."

"So he told me." She chuckled. "But he has a fever and needs to rest."

"Ok. Hold on a second." Rebecca heard the clicking of Donna's laptop. "It looks like Harvey has a fairly easy day. There are no court appearances and only three meetings."

"Do you think Mike could handle those meetings?"

"I'm already texting him about it right now." Donna replied.

"That is why you are the best." Rebecca told her. "Thank you."

"Does he need anything?"

"Not right now." She told Donna as she got a glass of water. "I'm going to cancel my day and stay with him. I don't think he should be alone right now."

"No, he probably shouldn't." Donna chimed in. "He thankfully doesn't get sick often but when he does he can be a big baby about it. I hope he feels better soon."

"Thanks for the warning." She chuckled.

"Let me know if you want me to bring you guys anything later."

"I appreciate it." She said before hanging up.

* * *

When she came back into the bedroom she headed straight to Harvey. The poor guy had fallen back asleep and she hated that she had to wake him up. She stopped herself from waking him for a moment, taking the time to study his face. In sleep he was completely relaxed and it looked like a slight smile was on his face. There were so many times she wished she could know what was going on inside that brain of his, but he wasn't the type to explain his thought process or overshare his feelings.

She knew that with each passing day she was falling harder for him. As much as she tried to convince herself that becoming attached to Harvey wasn't a good choice due to his relationship issues, as much as she tried to remind herself that he wasn't emotionally available in the way that she needed and as much as she tried to remember that this thing they had going on had an unknown expiration date she couldn't help caring about him more and more.

She realized she couldn't just stare at him all day, so she gently shook him awake.

"Mmm…" He murmured, turning to look at her. "It felt like you were gone for a long time."

She chuckled because it had only been fifteen minutes. "Well I had some things to take care of out there. Donna is having Mike handle your meetings today. She says she hopes you feel better soon. And then I had to call my office and tell them I wasn't coming in today. I also had to find your Tylenol, which was extremely difficult.

He smirked. "Doesn't everyone keep theirs in the pantry?"

"Nope." She shook her head. "Just you, you big weirdo."

"You know you really don't have to stay here with me." He said as he sat up so he could take the pills she handed him. "I can take care of myself."

"Sorry." She shook her head. "You're stuck with me."

"I'm sure you have your own cases to take care of though." He pointed out.

It was true. She did have a bunch of cases and work would be piled up on her desk tomorrow. She would most likely have to work late tomorrow to take care of everything. But she didn't mind. It then occurred to her that maybe he didn't want her to stay. "Do you want me to leave?"

Although she asked the question, she was almost afraid of the answer. To her, staying home and taking care of him when he was sick was an automatic response for someone she cared about. But maybe he didn't want her to do it.

"No." He shook his head. "What I want is for you to come back into this bed and stay here with me all day. But that is selfish."

She smirked. "Then I guess it is your lucky day because you are actually allowed to be selfish when you are sick." She kissed the top of his forehead. "Scoot over."

Once he had made room for her, she cuddled up to him, laying her head on his chest. "Now go back to sleep."

* * *

When Harvey woke up later he expected Rebecca to be in bed with him. But the bed was empty and he frowned. Maybe he had just imagined that she volunteered to stay home with him. His dreams had felt extremely realistic. It was a possibility. A look at the clock told him he had slept until almost noon. Despite the extra sleep, he still felt exhausted.

He pushed the covers back so he could get out of bed. His phone wasn't on the nightstand and he wanted to find it. That's when the door opened and he saw Rebecca coming in with a tray. He smiled because it wasn't a dream. She really was here taking care of him.

"What are you doing?" She chuckled.

"I need to call Donna and see how things are going." He told her.

"You don't need to do that." She scolded gently. "I've been texting with Donna and she says everything is fine. In fact, she told me when you asked how things were going that I should tell you 'the puppy hasn't peed in the house today'. She said you would know what that meant."

He chuckled. "It means Mike hasn't screwed anything up."

She laughed. "You really call him a puppy?"

"Yeah. Why? Sometimes he acts like it." Harvey defended himself with a smile. He swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

"Stop trying to get out of bed."

"I was going to get something to drink." He told her. "I'm thirsty."

"No." She commanded. "You aren't getting out of that bed until I say you can."

"You're sexy when you demand things." He smirked.

"You're just now noticing that?" She winked. "Besides, I brought you some water and chicken noodle soup." She brought the tray over to the bed.

"I'm not eating that in bed." He refused. "I never eat or drink in bed, remember?"

"Fine." She rolled her eyes. "Then you may get out of bed to eat in the chair."

"Thank you Nurse Rebecca." He chuckled, getting out of bed and walking to the chair by the bed. He was surprised that she brought over the tray to him and gently placed it in his lap. Looking at it, there was a glass of water, a napkin with a spoon and a bowl of soup. He used the spoon to stir the soup. "This doesn't look like it came from a can."

"That's because it didn't." She told him as she straightened out his bed sheets. "While you were sleeping I went to the corner market and got the stuff to make it from scratch. It's my mom's recipe. Every time she made it, no matter what was wrong with me, I always felt 10x better after eating it. I thought maybe it could do the same for you."

He looked at the soup. It meant a lot to him that she would go to all that trouble to do something nice for him. But it shouldn't have surprised him. She was an extraordinary woman. First she stayed home from work for him and then she made him homemade soup.

He tried a taste of the soup. "Oh my God. This is incredible."

"Really?" She turned to face him. He could swear she was starting to blush. "You really like it?"

"It's delicious." He complimented her.

"Thanks." She smiled. "I should really go do the dishes though."

"No." He spoke up quickly. Although she had been here the whole day he hadn't had much of a chance to be with her. "Stay here. Keep me company while I eat?"

"Ok." She relented, sitting on the side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Drained." He admitted. "I kept having weird dreams."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"I don't remember all of the dreams, but there was one where I was best friends with Louis and we were planning a cross country road trip with just him and me."

"Oh my God!" She laughed. "I think if you did that for real you would either kill him or leave him on the side of the road before you even left New York."

"Exactly!" He laughed. She knew him too well. "It was so creepy."

She came over and felt his forehead. "You're still hot. I'm going to get you some more Tylenol. I'll be right back."

He watched her leave and continued to eat what was left of his soup. The last time he was really sick was six years ago. He woke up on a Saturday morning feeling so badly he could barely get out of bed. He didn't have anyone to take care of him then so he just stayed in bed all weekend. By Monday he still didn't feel great, but was able to make it into work.

This time though, he had Rebecca taking care of him. And after finishing the soup, he knew she was right. Whether it was something in the soup or just the knowledge that someone cared enough to make it, after eating it he felt 10x better.

"Here you go." She said as she came back in and handed him two more pills. "Oh wow. You're done already?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "What can I say? It was good."

"I'm glad!" She smiled, taking the tray and leaving the room again.

As he watched her leave this time, he realized he needed to do something nice for her to pay her back for everything she had been doing today. He didn't have any ideas yet, but he was certain he could come up with something.

* * *

Rebecca stood at the sink, rinsing out some dishes when her cell phone buzzed. She stopped and looked at the caller id. Realizing she should take the call, she answered.

"Hello Xavier." She greeted.

"I'm standing in your office. Where are you?" He asked.

"I'm out of the office today." She explained. "What do you need?"

"I was going to see if you would have lunch with me so we could discuss your progress here at the firm."

"Oh." She felt bad that she wasn't in the office today for that. But to be fair, she had no idea he was going to do that today. "Well I should be back in the office tomorrow."

"Why can't you just meet me for lunch today?"

"Because I'm busy with some other things right now."

"You should be able to drop what you're doing and meet with a name partner." He scolded. "Especially if you are taking the day off for personal reasons."

"Xavier, I'm doing things that are important." She told him politely. "I'm sorry I can't have lunch with you today. I'd be happy to do that tomorrow though. Now if there isn't anything else, I really need to get going."

She was surprised that he hung up on her. It really wasn't that big of a deal that she took the day off so she wasn't sure why Xavier was being so cross about it. But it didn't matter. She was where she wanted to be and Xavier wasn't going to change that. When she turned around, she saw Harvey standing behind her with an empty water glass.

"Hey." She greeted, putting on a smile.

"Are you in trouble with your boss now because of me?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head. "Xavier is a bit high strung sometimes, but everything is fine."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive." She assured him, taking his glass from him and going to the fridge to refill it from the Brita machine. "Here you go." She handed the glass to him.

"Thanks."

She could see he still wasn't convinced so she decided to change the subject. "So do you want to get some more sleep or stay up for a little bit? We could watch something on the couch. I'll even let you pick what it is."

He smirked. "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

She laughed. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." He nodded. "It's a good movie. Have you seen it?"

"No, because I'm not a sixteen year old boy and this isn't the 80's."

"Well get ready to watch it anyway because you told me I could pick." He boasted.

She sighed. "Yeah, I did. Didn't I? Ok. A deal is a deal."

* * *

When Rebecca came back into the bedroom she found Harvey already asleep. It was a little after 10pm and she didn't want to wake him up, but she wanted to check on his fever. She gently pressed her wrist against his forehead and felt it was cool.

"Thank God. I think your fever broke." She whispered, taking another good look at him. The covers were down by his waist so his chest was exposed. Staring at him, she couldn't help but marvel at her luck. He was a gorgeous man. There was no denying that. The jogging and boxing he did made every muscle defined and toned. His face reminded her of a Greek God. That chiseled jawbone and piercing dark eyes that stared deep into her were intense.

And as much as he hated to show it, he was a kind, good man who cared about the people closest to him. She knew how much he cared about Donna, Mike, Rachel, Jessica, his brother Marcus and his family, and even Louis to a certain extent. He didn't say it often, but she could tell by the way he treated them and talked about them. She liked to think she was now on that list. After all, they had been seeing each other for months now. But she still wasn't completely convinced.

She wasn't a fool. She knew there was almost no chance they would end up being together forever. It was tricky enough to get Harvey to agree to a relationship in the first place. At some point they would be going their separate ways and she was certain her heart was going to be broken. But that was a problem for future Rebecca. Present Rebecca needed to soak up as much Harvey Specter as she could for as long as possible.

She leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his forehead before slipping into bed next to him. Moments after laying her head on the pillow, she felt his arm wrap around her and pull her close to him. She smiled before letting herself fall asleep.


	16. Chapter 16

Synchronicity

Chapter Sixteen

Harvey was putting the finishing touches on his tie when he noticed in the mirror that Rebecca was finally awake and sitting up in bed. "Good morning." He smiled, turning around.

"Hey, you are already dressed." She stated, getting out of bed and walking over to him.

"Yeah. I'm going into the office in few minutes."

"How do you feel?" She felt his forehead.

"I feel great." He told her.

"You're fever is gone and didn't come back during the night. That's a relief." She smiled.

"And I have you and your incredible nursing skills to thank for it." He leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and deepened the kiss. "You know, it is still early. We don't have to be at work yet so we could always just get back in bed…"

"I'd love to but I need to go make sure the puppy hasn't peed in the house again." He smirked.

"Again with calling Mike a puppy?" She laughed.

"It's just a thing we do." Harvey smirked. "I call him a puppy and he makes jokes about how old I am and how I probably have prostate issues."

"You're definitely not that old…yet." She winked.

"Damn right I'm not." He winked back, kissing her.

"But let me get this straight…you are turning down a chance at this?" She asked, breaking away from him and pointing to herself.

"I'm not turning it down." He corrected her. "I'm postponing until tonight."

"What makes you think that offer will still be good tonight?" She asked in a cheeky tone.

He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close. "Because you're a sure thing who can't say no to me." He boasted with a smile.

She raised an eyebrow. "Challenge accepted."

"Now wait a minute…" He held up his hand. "That wasn't a challenge. It was a joke."

"Sounded like a challenge to me." She smirked, pulling away from him. "And I've already accepted it. So good luck getting a piece of me tonight."

"That's not fair." He pouted.

"Well you're always welcome to try, but I'm not guaranteeing anything because tonight I'm not a sure thing." She explained.

He reached out and pulled her as close to him as he could again. "You're going to regret taking this challenge on."

"Possibly." She whispered into his ear. "Or maybe you'll be the one to regret it. After all, it already feels like you are regretting that you said no to my offer this morning."

Her hand grazed his crotch and he released a deep sigh. She wasn't playing fair. Then he saw her move back.

"I'm going to take a shower." She announced, stripping out of his t-shirt and standing there in just her panties. "I was going to invite you, but I changed my mind because I'm not a sure thing."

"You're evil." He laughed.

"Oh, I know." She smiled as she walked over to the bathroom.

* * *

Later that morning Rebecca was busy typing a brief on her computer when Xavier entered.

"Ah. You're finally back." He said, sitting in the chair in front of her desk.

"I was only gone one day, and I'm sure this place managed just fine without me." She told him. "Besides, I was in contact with Adrienne the whole day and I got some work done from home. Nothing important fell through the cracks yesterday."

"That's beside the point." Xavier waved her off. "I wanted to have lunch because I have a new case for you."

"I'm kind of overloaded currently as it is with my own cases." She tried to explain.

"It's something I need you to take care of because you are the only one I can trust to do it the right way." Xavier told her.

"What's the case?" She asked when she realized there was no getting out of it.

"It's my father's fourth divorce." Xavier replied.

"No. Xavier, I'm not a divorce attorney." She protested.

"But you are brilliant and I trust you." He told her. "Besides, I need you to handle this because the attorney on the other side is Louis Litt."

She groaned softly. Why did it have to be Louis? "Xavier, that's not a good idea because..." She was getting close to disclosing her relationship with Harvey when there was a knock on her door.

"Sorry to interrupt, but these just came for you and the delivery guy said they were marked urgent." Adrienne spoke up, coming to the desk and placing a large vase of flowers on her desk.

"Thank you Adrienne." She smiled, staring at the flowers. She knew who she hoped they were from, but would wait until Xavier was out of her office to check.

"From a secret admirer?" Xavier asked.

"Not sure." She answered, deciding to lie about who they were from. "They are probably from a grateful client. But the thing is…"

"No here is the thing. You have beaten Harvey Specter. Now it's time to go beat Louis Litt." Xavier interrupted. "Then maybe we'll have a case where you can go up against Jessica Pearson and beat her too."

"Why is Louis taking this case?" She questioned. The fact that he seemed focus on her beating all of the name partners at Harvey's firm didn't get lost on her. She would focus on that later though. "Louis isn't a divorce attorney either."

"My father's wife is his secretary's cousin."

She knew that there was no way out of this so she relented. "Ok."

He handed her the file. "Thank you." He was almost out of her office when he turned around. "And that flower arrangement is too large. Whoever sent you that is just trying to overcompensate for something."

As soon as Xavier was gone she stared at the flowers. It was a large arrangement, with what looked like both red and lilac roses, pink lilies and varying shades of Gerbera daisies. But Harvey definitely didn't have to overcompensate for anything. It was gorgeous and she picked up the envelope to see the note.

The envelope was abnormally heavy. It seemed like there was something other than just a card in there so she dumped it out on her desk to find there was a note and a key. She left the key on her desk and opened the note.

 _R,_

 _Now you're free to come and go as you please._

 _H_

He just gave her a key to his place. "Holy shit." To say she was surprised would be an understatement. She knew what she had to do and picked up the phone.

"Harvey Specter's office."

"Donna, thank God you're at your desk."

"Of course I am. Where else would I be?" She chuckled. "What's going on? Do you want me to put you through to Harvey?"

"No. Not yet." She said quickly. "I need to talk to you first since you are like a Harvey Specter decoder ring."

Donna laughed again. "Yeah, I guess I am. Ok. So what can I decode for you today?"

"First of all, I know you are in charge of when he sends people things. Did you arrange for the flowers to be sent to my office today?"

"No." She answered. "That was actually Harvey for a change. He texted me early this morning asking for the name of the florist I use. I figured he was sending you flowers and wanted to see how he could do without my input. So how do they look?"

"Beautiful." Rebecca answered. "I'll text you a picture because he did a great job."

"So what do you need decoded?"

"In the envelope was a key…to his place."

"Holy shit." Donna chuckled. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." She answered. "That's a good thing, right?"

"Honey, it's a great thing."

"I just wasn't expecting something like this."

"But that's how Harvey works." Donna explained. "He won't always say it with words, but he'll say it with actions and gestures like this. Do you want me to put you through to him now?"

"Yeah if you don't mind. Thanks."

She was only on hold for a moment before she heard his velvet voice. "Hello."

"Hey." She greeted. Even though she was talking to him over the phone and he couldn't see it, she couldn't help but smile.

"Hey. What's going on?"

"Thank you for the flowers." She told him. "And the key."

"I'm glad it got to you already."

"You didn't have to give me a key."

"I know." He paused. "I did it because I wanted to."

"Well it means a lot to me."

He chuckled. "Shouldn't you have called me on my cell phone instead of my office phone to keep business separate from personal?"

"Well I actually have some business I need to tell you about too. So I figured it didn't matter what phone I called you on this time."

He sighed. "You didn't take another case against me, did you?"

"No." She chuckled. "But Xavier wanted to have lunch yesterday so he could dump his father's divorce case in my lap. And the attorney for the other side is Louis."

She heard him laugh loudly and it went on for several moments. She imagined he was bent over his desk from laughing so hard.

"This isn't funny." She told him when he quieted down.

"Oh yes it is." He argued.

"I don't want to go up against Louis or anyone else in your firm." She explained. "I don't want a repeat of what happened the last time."

"It won't happen again." He promised. "Besides, it's just Louis and just a divorce case. I don't care that you'll beat him."

He said he didn't care that she would beat Louis, not that he wouldn't care if she beat Louis. It was a small thing, but to her it proved he had faith in her abilities and that meant a lot to her. "Well I just thought you should know."

"So why did Xavier give you this case?"

"To be completely honest, I think he wants me to beat all of the name partners. He mentioned trying to find me a case against Jessica if I win against Louis. I don't think he likes your firm very much." She explained.

"He probably doesn't because his firm isn't nearly as large or profitable as mine." Harvey speculated. "But enough about him. Will you be using your key tonight?"

"If I can get my work done, I absolutely will. But it won't be until at least 9pm." She told him.

"I better let you get back to work then."

As soon as she hung up the phone she looked at the key and chuckled. "Damn…I'm going to have to let him win the challenge tonight."

* * *

True to her word, it was almost 9 when Rebecca managed to get to Harvey's place and use her key for the first time. As soon as she entered she smelled garlic and tomatoes. As she turned the corner, she saw something she didn't expect. Harvey was standing at the stove, stirring something. He had lit a fire and there was a drink waiting for her on the counter.

"Hey." She greeted, causing him to turn around and smile at her.

"Hey." He walked over and gave her a kiss. "You are right on time because dinner is almost ready."

She put her stuff down on the counter, picked up the drink and followed him over to the stove. "What did you do?"

"I made the one dinner I can cook perfectly, aside from grilling…spaghetti with garlic bread."

He looked so proud of himself that she couldn't help but kiss him.

"Aren't you supposed to be playing hard to get tonight?" He laughed.

"Yeah, probably." She smirked. "So is this the kind of thing you always do when you're having trouble closing a woman?" Immediately she regretted the joke because his whole demeanor changed. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He shook his head and placed the pasta in a bowl.

"It was a joke. I'm sorry."

"It's fine." He shrugged.

"Obviously it isn't fine." She argued.

"Ok. You're right. It isn't fine." He told her. "I don't cook. I have never once cooked for another woman. I don't do romance or flowers. I don't give out keys to my place. But I am trying here with you and you're standing there making jokes about it."

She didn't realize she hurt his feelings so much with that joke. Now she felt horrible. Donna's words rang through her head. He won't always say it with words, but he'll say it with actions and gestures. Now she felt horrible.

"Harvey…" She didn't even know what else to say. So she waited until he put the bowl down before wrapping her arms around his waist and holding on tightly. "I'm sorry. This whole set up is perfect and it was a stupid joke. I don't even know why I said it. The key meant everything to me. And the fact that you would make me dinner…it makes me happier than you could ever know."

"I didn't do this to win the challenge, just so you know." He told her. "I was trying to thank you for yesterday."

"I know." She nodded. "And you didn't need to thank me for yesterday. I was happy to take care of you." She gave him a quick kiss and then whispered into his ear. "Besides, I think we both know there's no way I can survive an entire night of your charm without giving in. I was ready to cave in before I even walked through the door."

He smirked. "I knew it."


	17. Chapter 17

Synchronicity

Chapter Seventeen

"Louis and Annette should be here soon to discuss the settlement agreement. Is there anything else other than what's in the file that you want me know about?" Rebecca asked Allister Bastin two days later while they were sitting in the conference room.

"She is an adulterer who shouldn't get anything other than what was outlined in the pre-nup." Allister answered. "That's all you need to know."

"Ok. I understand that." She sighed. "But I need to know if there is anything that she can claim about you. I don't want to be blindsided by Louis Litt."

"She will try to claim that I cheated first with my psychiatrist." He shook his head. "But I didn't. I had the chance to, but I didn't."

"Does she have anything that would make it look like you cheated first? Photos, receipts, witnesses, texts, emails?"

"No. There's nothing like that. My only relationship with my Dr. was professional." Allister replied. "You sure like to be thorough, don't you?"

"I find it's the best way to get my clients what they want." Rebecca answered.

"No wonder my son is so smitten with you."

"Excuse me?" That was news to her.

"It's ok." He whispered. "He told me that you two are dating and that I need to keep it quiet because he is your boss."

"He told you that?" She was confused and pissed off at Xavier now.

"Yes." He nodded. "Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

She was about to correct him when Louis Litt walked into the conference room. She would deal with Xavier later. Right now she had to put on her game face. "Hello Louis."

"Rebecca. Nice to see you." He nodded, taking his place at the other side of the table with Annette. "Shall we get this started?"

"Absolutely." Rebecca answered she sat down across from him. "Here is what we are prepared to offer." She slid the folder across the table.

Louis glanced at the offer and slid it over to Annette. "This is what we are asking for." He slid his own folder across the table.

She looked it over and then showed Allister.

"No way." Allister refused. "You aren't getting anything other than what is in the pre-nup."

"You cheated on me and I want more than what is owed to me from the pre-nup." Annette replied angrily.

"I never cheated." Allister defended himself. "But you sure did. You cheated with every guy you could."

"I did not!" Annette yelled.

"Ok, this isn't productive." Rebecca stepped in. She looked at Louis. "We are not accepting your offer. So unless you are going to accept our offer or making a counter offer, it looks like we will have to start depositions."

"Then we will have to start depositions because my client will not settle for anything less than she deserves. You should prepare your client because his bank account is going to be drained soon." Louis replied, standing up and motioning for Annette to follow him.

Once they were out of the office she turned to Allister. "We're going to need to depose your psychiatrist."

"Why?" He questioned. "Why can't we leave her out of it?"

"Because I don't trust Louis to leave her out of it. If Annette thought you were cheated with this woman, you can bet that he will subpoena her."

"She has nothing to do with this case though."

"Then you have nothing to worry about." She sighed.

"I don't want her deposed." He put his foot down. "There has to be another way."

She sighed. "The only other way is to try and get her to accept a settlement. But you would have to give her more than what is in the pre-nup."

"How much more?"

"Two million." She answered.

"That's 20% more than what she is supposed to get!" He exclaimed.

"I realize that." She nodded. "But it's also a show of good faith and half of what her offer was today."

"Make the deal." Allister replied after a moment of silence.

"I'll put it together and take it to Louis." She told him. "Then I'll be in touch." Once Allister left, she gathered up her stuff and headed to Xavier's office. She didn't even bother knocking since the door was open.

"Hey." He smiled at her. "How did the settlement meeting go?"

"We couldn't settle today, but it will be fine. I'm taking care of it." She explained.

"So if it will be fine, why do you look so angry?"

"You told your father we are dating." She watched his face turn from a smile to a grimace.

"I was hoping he wouldn't say anything. I told him it was a secret."

"It sure is a secret." She fumed. "It's such a big secret that I didn't even know about it. How long have you been saying that we have been fake dating?"

"Three months." He admitted.

"Xavier! How dare you do this to me!"

"I know." He held up his hands. "I'm really very sorry."

"This isn't acceptable. I'm dating someone else and I don't appreciate the position you've put me in now."

"Who are you dating?" He asked.

"That isn't any of your business."

"I know. I'm sorry. It's just that my father doesn't understand why I am not married. He can't reconcile with the fact that I am pickier about who I get involved with than he is in his own personal life. I haven't found anyone that interests me lately. So when he asked if I was dating anyone, I panicked and said your name."

"Well you need to tell him the truth because we aren't dating and I don't want that rumor going around." She explained. "You're my boss and if it looked like I was dating you, then my reputation would be trashed."

"You're right." He nodded. "I'll set my father straight tonight."

"Thank you." She gave him a small smile before leaving his office.

* * *

The next day she walked off the elevator at Pearson Spector Litt. Although she wanted to go surprise Harvey, she figured she should take care of business with Louis first. She walked over to Louis' office, seeing his secretary at her desk.

"Hi. I'm Rebecca Monroe. I have an appointment with Louis." She smiled.

"I'll let him know you're here." Gretchen told her, getting on the phone.

A few moments later, she saw Louis get out of his chair and walk out. "Rebecca, you're right on time."

"Of course." She nodded, going into his office. "Punctuality is always important."

"I agree." He smiled. "So what is the settlement today? ¾ of the amount from the pre-nup?"

"No." She shook her head and pulled out a folder. "I think your client will be happier with this."

He took the folder and sat down at his desk to read it. "This isn't what we were asking for."

"No, it isn't exactly what you asked for." She explained. "But it is a show of good faith and the best you're going to get. If we go to trial on this, we hold all of the cards and your client will be lucky if she gets anything. We have proof that your client cheated. You don't have any proof my client cheated and you won't have any proof because it didn't happen."

She placed another folder on his desk. "I know your client will try to convince you that my client cheated with his psychiatrist. Here is a signed affidavit from her saying that they were never together in any way that wasn't professional. So my advice is that you try to convince her to take this. It gives her a hell of a lot more than the pre-nup would have."

"I'll run it past her." He agreed.

"Thank you." She turned to leave but was stopped by his voice.

"So I hear you're dating Harvey?"

She turned around to face him. It was surprising to her that Harvey told Louis they were dating. But perhaps he had to after he witnessed them in the conference room. "Yeah. I am."

"For what it's worth, I think it's a good thing." He stated. "You two seem well suited for each other. This is exactly the kind of thing he would have pulled on a case."

"Thanks." She didn't know what else to say so she just left his office. Since it was still early and she had some time before her next meeting, she walked down the hallway to Harvey's office. "Hey Donna!"

"What are you doing here?" Donna smiled.

"I had a meeting with Louis about a case."

"Oh yeah, the divorce case for your boss." Donna nodded.

She looked over and saw Harvey's office was empty. "Where is he?"

"He is in court. But he might be back soon if you want to wait."

"No. That's ok." She shook her head. Then she had a better idea. "Do you happen to have an empty envelope? I wanna leave something for him."

"Sure." Donna promptly handed her one. "Now if you will excuse me, I have to use the ladies room. Are we still on for lunch tomorrow?"

"Absolutely!" She smiled. She waited until Donna was gone before going into Harvey's office. She sat down at his desk and quickly removed her underwear when she saw no one was looking. Then she placed it in the envelope. Taking two post-it notes, she stuck them on the envelope. On one of them she wrote _For Harvey Specter's eyes only._ On the other one she wrote _Sorry I missed you while you were in court. Open while alone. -R_

She placed the envelope on top of his computer and then left, smirking the whole time.

Harvey walked through the halls toward his office.

"How did court go?" Donna asked.

"Fine." He answered.

"You missed Rebecca." She told him, causing him to look over. "She was here to meet with Louis about the divorce case."

"Damn." He sighed. He would have liked to see her for a moment. It wasn't often they got to see each other during the middle of a work day.

"She left you something on your desk."

"Thanks." He quickly went into his office and saw the envelope on his computer. Curiosity got the better of him and he sat down. Then he opened up the envelope and pulled out her underwear.

A huge grin formed on his face before he stuffed them back in the envelope. He took out his phone and typed a message to her.

 _Thanks for the package. Does this mean what I think it means?_

It didn't take her long to type back.

 _Yes…I'm not wearing any underwear now._

He chuckled softly and was plotting what to say next when she texted him again.

 _I managed to settle with Louis by refuting all of his claims and I want to celebrate with you tonight. My place or yours?_

He immediately texted back. _My place. 7pm._

 _See you then. ;)_


	18. Chapter 18

Synchronicity

Chapter Eighteen

Harvey stood up at the altar next to Mike. At any moment the wedding would start. Donna would walk down the aisle first as Rachel's maid of honor. Then Rachel would walk down the aisle with her father. He looked over at Mike, who was fidgeting. "Calm down." He whispered.

"I am calm." Mike whispered back.

He scoffed as softly as possible. "If you're so calm, then why can't you stop fidgeting?"

"I just…this is the most important moment of my life so far."

"Just breathe and you'll be fine. And don't lock your knees. The last thing you want to do is pass out at your wedding." He advised, looking out at the guests. Rebecca was sitting in the second row on the groom's side, in between Louis and Jessica. At that moment she was talking to Louis and laughing about something with him. Jessica joined in and soon all three of them were laughing together.

It was weird to see her getting along so well with the other people in his life. It was nice, but still weird. She not only got along well with the people he worked with, but also with Marcus and Katie. Sometimes he looked at her and marveled. She was like a puzzle piece that clicked into place perfectly in his life. It was both comforting and scary at the same time.

At this point it had been about seven months since she first waltzed into his life, although it somehow felt like longer than that. She had managed to completely change his life. He was actually in a committed relationship now. He gave her a key to his penthouse, which to him was a sign of complete trust. He had told her things that he didn't tell others. At this point she knew him better than anyone else—even Donna in most ways. And he was crazy about her. He cared about her so much that it scared him a lot of the time.

He had made a concerted effort not to lash out at her when he got scared anymore. For the most part it was working. There were still times that he would panic. But he was trying.

The music started and the doors opened to reveal Donna walking down the aisle in her blush pink gown. She looked happy to be celebrating her friends' wedding. The grin on her face stretched from ear to ear.

Next Rachel appeared on the arm of her father. She was starting to show ever so slightly, but the look of pure happiness on her face made it hard to look anywhere other than at her face. He looked over at Mike, who seemed mesmerized by every movement Rachel made. He then looked over at Rebecca, who was also watching Rachel. After a moment though, Rebecca looked over at him and winked. He couldn't help smiling before winking back.

* * *

Later on at the reception, he swirled the drink in his glass around and listened to the conversations at his table as everyone had their own conversations going at the same time.

"So Rebecca, how do you like it at Florrick Bastin and James?" Jessica asked.

"It's fine." She answered.

"Just fine?" Jessica pressed.

"I don't necessarily love it over there, but I have a lot of autonomy to do what I want." She explained. "That's something I didn't have much of in LA. and I didn't realize until now how much I love autonomy."

"You really are like Harvey." Jessica chuckled. "He loves his autonomy too."

"What can I say?" He chuckled. "I love doing whatever the hell I want whenever I want."

Rebecca looked over at him and smiled.

"And what I want right now is to dance with the sexiest woman here. So will you dance with me?" He whispered in her ear.

"I'd love to." She replied.

Within moments they were on the dance floor. He held her as close to him as he could while they danced to the slow rhythm of the song.

"You know, if we're being honest, I wasn't sure if you could even dance because we've never done this before." She teased.

"I'll have you know that I'm a very good dancer." He pretended to be hurt by her comment.

"Yes you certainly are." She smiled. "But that shouldn't surprise me because you're so good at lots of things."

"Damn right I am." He smirked, letting go of her to twirl her around. Then he brought her back close to him again.

"You look very dashing tonight." She smiled, leaning in and whispering in his ear. "There's something about the way you look in a tux that makes me want to drag you to the nearest bathroom."

He grinned. "I'm ready to be dragged away anytime you are."

She chuckled. "We can't do that here."

"Yeah we could." He argued playfully. "You look stunning tonight. You're easily the best looking woman here."

"You can't say that." She chided him gently. "You're supposed to save that compliment for the bride."

"I'm sure Mike can take care of complimenting her." He smirked.

"Yeah." She agreed, looking at the newly married couple sitting huddled together at a table on the other side of the dance floor. "I bet he is doing that right now. They really seem to love each other a lot."

"Yeah." He nodded.

"It was a beautiful ceremony."

"Yeah." He agreed. He didn't go to many weddings. It wasn't because he wasn't invited to them. Between his current and former clients, co-workers and just random people he knew it seemed like he was invited to at least thirty weddings a year. Though he suspected he was invited to half of those simply because they knew he wouldn't come and just wanted a nice wedding gift. His avoidance of weddings was more about the fact that he didn't feel like celebrating people committing their lives to each other. He saw how that backfired on his parents.

His parents' failed marriage was the main reason why he always thought he would never get married. He never thought there would be anyone he would trust enough to even try and spend the rest of his life with. Now though, swaying to the music with Rebecca in his arms, he realized he could envision a life with her.

It wouldn't be the same kind of life as Rachel and Mike, with a suburban house and a handful of kids playing in the backyard. But he could see himself standing in front of a priest, waiting for her to walk down to him so they could get married in front of only their closest friends. He could see a lifetime of lazy weekends spent in bed or watching her cook. Those thoughts were dangerous though and he needed to stop having them.

"What's going on in that head of yours?" She asked, bringing him out of his thoughts.

"Nothing." He shook it off. It didn't seem like she was buying it, but she let it go.

"I think they will be happy together."

"Me too." He nodded.

"And just so you know, Louis isn't actually as bad as you make him out to be." She smirked.

"Now you are on his side?" He laughed.

"Harvey, I'm always gonna be on your side." She assured him. "But Louis seems like a decent guy. He's a little weird though…"

"Did he tell you about his mudding?"

"Yeah." She chuckled. "I'm sorry but that just sounds so gross."

"I agree." He chuckled. "Promise me you won't become best friends with him like you did Donna and end up going mudding with him."

She grinned. "I promise. That will never happen. There is no situation on Earth that would ever make me go mudding."

"Good."

She leaned in to whisper in his ear. "I don't mind activities that can make you dirty, but I draw the line at mud."

He smirked at her. "Dually noted."

They danced in silence for a few moments and he watched her face. She was thinking about something.

"So what's going on inside that brain of yours?" He asked, turning her earlier question back onto her.

She was silent for another moment. "Does it bother you that I'm such good friends with Donna, Rachel and Katie?"

"Katie?" That one was new to him. "Since when did that happen?"

"Ever since dinner that night, we've been texting and talking on the phone. Does it bother you?"

"Not really." He shrugged. "It's just new to me. You have these relationships with the other people in my life. I'm not used to it."

"Is it wrong that I just want to fit into all aspects of your life?" She asked quietly.

He looked at her face and saw the uncertainty. She was obviously nervous about asking that question and he knew enough to know that answering this was important. "It's not wrong." He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. "And you fit into my life so nicely that I can hardly remember what it was like before I knew you."

He saw her smile and knew that he had somehow answered her question well. So he smiled back and leaned in for another kiss.

* * *

Rebecca turned in bed later so she could look at Harvey. They had come back home from the wedding late, having danced and drank with everyone until the early morning. After they got back to his place they had sex. He fell asleep shortly afterwards. His light snores alerted her to that fact. She was having trouble sleeping though.

It was a beautiful wedding. Rachel looked gorgeous in her wedding gown and it was obvious to everyone there how much Rachel and Mike loved each other. They barely took their eyes off of each other the whole night.

It was also nice to get to know Louis and Jessica a little better. She knew how much Jessica meant to Harvey. She had seen that there was greatness in him while he worked in the mailroom all those years ago and she worked hard to cultivate that raw greatness, helping to shape the kind of lawyer he was now.

And Louis…well Harvey was right. Louis was something else entirely. But tonight she saw that underneath Louis' peculiar personality was a guy who just wanted to belong and seemed to have good intentions.

She was glad that Harvey didn't seem to mind her becoming such good friends with the people in his life.

Although it made her feel a little like a creepy stalker, she stared at his face while he was sleeping. He had a small grin on his face and she wondered what he was dreaming about. Selfishly she hoped it was a dream about her.

She was painfully aware why it was difficult for her to sleep tonight.

While she was certain everyone else was staring at Rachel and Mike during the ceremony, she couldn't take her eyes off of Harvey. Aside from the fact that he looked absolutely incredible in his tuxedo, she couldn't help but think about their relationship.

It started out rocky, with him lashing out at her every time he felt threatened or spooked. But she was proud of him. He was making a conscious effort at being in a mature, committed relationship. Being totally honest with herself, she didn't think their relationship was going to last this long.

She hoped it would. She was thrilled it had. But realistically she thought that it would have ended by now. The fact that it hadn't made her happy. It also scared her to her inner core.

About halfway through Mike's vows she came to the realization that she was madly, deeply, crazy in love with Harvey. She would do anything for him if it meant he was happy or it would help him. It shouldn't have come as a surprise to her.

She knew her feelings for him had been growing steadily for a while now. She practically lived here with him, usually only going back to her own apartment for clothes or if they spent the occasional night together there.

But the realization that she was in love with him scared her because there was no way she could tell him. In a normal relationship, one person could tell the other how they felt. This wasn't a normal relationship though.

She still had to be careful about not spooking Harvey by moving this relationship too fast too quickly. She knew that although they were in a relationship right now, it didn't mean they were going to be in a relationship forever.

The likelihood that they would end up getting married at some point was slim. Even the most hardened Vegas gamblers wouldn't take that bet.

But she had to admit that during the wedding she zoned out for a moment, imagining what their own wedding could be like. She imagined it on an island beach with only the people closest to them attending. They would say their vows with the sound of ocean waves crashing behind them. Then they would have a dinner with everyone before going to the other side of the beach for their honeymoon, choosing an island that was mostly deserted so they could be totally alone with no interruptions.

It was a nice daydream, but she had to remind herself that's all it was…just a daydream. She knew Harvey cared about her. He hardly ever said it, but he showed it with gestures. She just wasn't sure he would ever allow himself to love her or let her love him the way she wanted to.

Sighing softly, she turned in the bed again. Curling up, she closed her eyes again and hoped she would be able to get at least a little sleep.


	19. Chapter 19

Synchronicity

Chapter Nineteen

Rebecca looked up and saw Xavier standing in her doorway. "Hey. What's up?"

"You and I are going to a party tonight." He said, entering her office.

"Actually, I can't because I have plans tonight." She told him. It wasn't completely true. Her only real plans were to go over to Harvey's place. But the idea of going to a party with Xavier just wasn't as fun.

"Well break those plans. This is more important." He commanded. "Seven Vodka is shopping for new representation. They invited us to the launch party of their new flavored vodkas and we need to go down there and close them. So I need my best closer with me."

"Xavier, Seven Vodka is a Pearson Specter Litt client." She protested. Actually it was one of Harvey's oldest clients. She took a client of his before and it didn't end well. She could only imagine what would happen if she did it again.

"But they aren't going to be for long." Xavier corrected her. "They don't feel like they are getting the attention they deserve and they want to change firms."

"I'm not sure…"

"I hired you to be a pit bull, not a pussycat." He explained, dropping a file on her desk. "So study that, put on something stunning and meet me in the lobby tonight at 7 so we can go get Seven Vodka as a client."

Without giving her another chance to say anything, he left her office. She didn't even have time to process what this might mean for her and Harvey when her cell phone went off. She looked at the caller id and saw Harvey's name.

"Hey, you." She said, trying to sound normal.

"Hey." He greeted back. "I was calling to see if you wanted to grab dinner tonight. I was thinking take out from the Italian place you like so much?"

"I'd love to but I just found out I'm being dragged to a work thing with Xavier." She answered.

"That sucks." He laughed. "Are you coming over after?"

"Depends on how late the work thing lasts."

"I don't care what time you come over. I just want to see you." He told her honestly.

She smiled at his comment. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she couldn't keep this a secret from him. She had to give him a heads up.

"Um, Harvey…there's something I need to tell you."

"Can it wait? I'm about to head into a deposition."

"It can't actually." She insisted. "The work thing Xavier is dragging me to is a launch party for Seven Vodka's new flavored vodkas."

"That's one of my oldest clients. Why the hell is he taking you to that?" He asked.

She recognized the tone of his voice. It was the tone he took when he was about ready to explode with anger but wanted to stay calm because he was in front of people.

"Shit. He's trying to poach them and using you to do it. Goddamn it. Looks like I will definitely see you tonight after all."

Then he hung up on her. She sighed. All she wanted to do was be honest with him but that seemed to backfire. She didn't even have a chance to tell him everything.

* * *

"Everything alright?" Mike asked as they walked down the hallway.

Harvey was aware Mike caught the end of the conversation and sighed. "Xavier Bastin is trying to poach Seven Vodka and is using Rebecca to try and close them tonight. I need to go stop her before she takes another one of my clients."

"You know she is only doing her job though, right?" Mike asked.

"I don't care what the hell she's doing." He told his friend, trying not to yell too loudly. "If she steals another Goddamn client from me we're through."

"She wouldn't try to steal your client though."

"She did once." He pointed out. "I'm not letting her do it again."

"Do you want me to come too?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm doing this myself."

* * *

She walked into the party with Xavier next to her. Although she was also technically working tonight it was a party. So she chose to wear a black cocktail dress. It wasn't too short, but it did show off her bare back so she figured that was a good mixture of conservative and party appropriate.

"I think we should divide and conquer. I'll go talk to members of the board. You go talk to the CEO." Xavier told her. He had spent the whole car ride grilling her about the major players in the business and going over their game plan. What he didn't realize was she had her own game plan in mind for tonight.

"Sounds good to me." She sighed, walking to the left. There was no way she would make it through this night without a drink so she headed to the bar first. A few moments later she had a drink in her hand and looked around. There were two people she was seeking out. There was no sign of Harvey yet, but she spotted Mitchell Evans talking to a group of guys over by the pool.

She made her way over there in time to hear the last part of the conversation. "There's no way this new line doesn't exceed the projections this quarter by at least 10%."

She cleared her throat softly, causing them to look over at her. "Excuse me gentlemen, but which one of you is the boss?"

"That would be me." Mitchell chuckled. "What can I help you with?"

"The question you should be asking yourself is what can I do for you?" She informed him. "Can I have a moment of your time?"

"You can have more than just a moment." He smiled, motioning for her to join him. They found an empty table not too far away and she placed her glass down.

"And just who are you?" He asked.

"My name is Rebecca. I'm with Florrick Bastin and James." She smiled, handing him her card. "I heard you might be looking for a change in representation and I'm here to tell you that you don't need to look any further than right in front of you."

"Well we are looking into a change." He laughed. "But why should I switch to you?"

"You shouldn't." Harvey's voice boomed.

She looked over and saw him standing next to her. He didn't even look her way and she knew from just one look at his face that he was pissed off. Whether it was at her or Xavier or both of them she didn't know. But she knew she needed to continue with the charade of trying to steal the client.

"You should stay with me."

"Harvey, it's nice to see you." Mitchell said, shaking hands. "It's been a long time."

"It hasn't been that long, Mitchell." Harvey shook his hand.

"Mr. Evans…" She started.

"Please." He looked over at her. "Call me Mitchell."

"Ok. Mitchell…" She smiled. "No one can say that Harvey isn't a great lawyer. But you obviously have concerns about his ability to dedicate enough time to you, otherwise you wouldn't have invited my firm to this party."

"You've never had any issues with my representation before." Harvey pointed out. "What's changed?"

"You're never around anymore." Mitchell replied. "Ever since you made name partner it is incredibly hard to get a hold of you."

"That's not true." Harvey objected.

"Yes it is." Mitchell explained. "Perhaps we need a new firm that appreciates us more."

She looked between Mitchell and Harvey, realizing she was right about what this was. Mitchell wasn't serious about hiring her firm. He just wanted to see if Harvey was paying attention. He wanted Harvey to come down and fight for their continued business. It was a genius move on Mitchell's part, but one that would piss off her boss—especially after she did what she was about to do.

"If you are looking for me to blow some wind up your skirt and tell you how you are the prettiest vodka company in the world, you should know by now that's not my style." Harvey explained calmly. "But let me remind you why you have been my client for the last eight years. I deliver results. Every time you have needed something, I've gotten it for you and gotten it for you in record time."

"Except when he can't get a hold of you." Rebecca interjected with a smile. Even though she knew Mitchell wasn't going to give her his business, she could still have a little fun with Harvey. After all, he already seemed angry with her. As the saying went, in for a penny in for a pound.

That got Harvey's attention and he looked over at her with a steely gaze. So she simply winked at him.

"Harvey is right about one thing." She continued. "You don't need someone complimenting you at every turn. You need someone who has the balls to critique you when you make bad choices, then help you turn them into the right ones. Give me a call if you are ever serious about changing representation. It was nice to meet you Mitchell and always a pleasure to see you again Harvey."

After saying it, she flashed them both a smile before walking away to go get another drink. She knew she would never hear from Mitchell and she was glad. The last thing she wanted to do was take another of Harvey's clients.

She wondered if it was time to tell Xavier about her relationship with Harvey. Maybe that would stop her boss from putting her in these types of situations. Though since Xavier seemed to have a grudge against Harvey, it could also have the opposite effect.

"Why is Harvey over there alone with Mitchell Evans?" Xavier asked as he came up beside her. "And how did he even know to come here tonight?"

"Mitchell is staying with Harvey." Rebecca explained. "And I don't know what prompted Harvey to come tonight." She realized it probably wasn't a good idea to tell her boss about her relationship with Harvey right now.

"Did you even try?" He sighed.

"I tried." She assured him. "But I can't Jedi mind trick Mitchell into doing something he doesn't want to do. Mitchell wants to stay with Harvey because he has loyalty to him."

"So what was this whole thing about?" Xavier asked. "Was it just a waste of time?"

"That would be a question for Mitchell." She told him. "All I know is that Seven Vodka isn't coming over to us tonight."

She watched her boss walk away from her and sighed. It wasn't long before Harvey appeared in front of her.

"What the hell was that?" He asked angrily.

"What?" She asked, genuinely not understanding his question.

"That." He said, gesturing back to where they had been standing earlier. "You are one of the best damn closers in the city. Instead of telling Mitchell that I'm a great lawyer and then walking away without so much as a fight you should have come after me. Are you telling me that was you trying your hardest? Because I'm calling bullshit. You tanked that close on purpose because of our relationship. I can think of five things just off the top of my head that you could have brought up to discredit me with Mitchell."

She had to laugh, otherwise she would become pissed off. "Seriously, Harvey?"

"What?" He asked.

"Mitchell wasn't going to sign with anyone else, not even me. It didn't matter what I said tonight. I could have said you were a recovering cocaine addict and you didn't answer all of his calls because you were either out on benders or rehab but he still would have stayed with you. He was simply trying to make you jealous to see if you still cared about his business. And you showed up tonight, you fought for him and you kept his business." She explained. "You did exactly what he wanted."

"So maybe instead of accusing me of tanking a pitch that I didn't give a shit about in the first place, you should be thanking me because you wouldn't have even known about this if it wasn't for me." She was starting to get mad now, and instead of curbing her temper she let it go.

"And another thing…you were pissed at me for being here because you thought I was going to try and steal a client from you. Now you're pissed at me because I didn't try to steal your client. That's some messed up shit and I don't appreciate it. So if you'll excuse me I'm leaving now."

She sat her drink down and walked around him to leave. Once she got to the street she realized she came in Xavier's car. "Shit." There was no way she was going back in there to find him so she decided to get a cab. She raised her hand to call one, surprised when Harvey appeared and slowly lowered her arm.

* * *

"Let me take you home." He asked softly. "It's the least I can do."

"Did you honestly think I wanted to come here tonight?" She asked, pausing for a moment. "I didn't. I only came because it's my job, but I didn't like it. And I told you what was going on because I didn't want there to be secrets between us. I didn't want a repeat of the last time I took a client of yours. And yes, I didn't give 100% in that close but the reason wasn't because I was trying to let you win. I did it because you had already won, and deep down you know that is the truth. So if you have to be mad at me, fine. But it doesn't mean I…"

He stopped her from talking by placing both of his hands on her face and kissing her.

After a moment, she pulled away. "You're not completely off the hook but I have some ways you can make it up to me when we get back to your place."

He smirked. "I shouldn't have accused you of tanking it on purpose. I just get possessive of my things sometimes."

"I know." She nodded. "You didn't actually think I was going to steal another of your clients though, did you?"

The truth was that he did think she would do it. He thought she would because that was her job. If it had been his job to steal her client, he would have found a way to do it, no matter what it took. One look at her face told him he had been too quiet for too long.

"You did." She scoffed. "You really thought I would steal your client."

"It was your job." He pointed out. "I would have done it if the situation was reversed."

He watched as her face crumbled. For a moment she looked like she would cry. Then her face turned to stone. "You just don't understand me at all then."

He watched her turn around and walk a few more steps before calling a taxi.

"Where are you going?" He yelled after her.

"Definitely not home with you." She yelled back before getting into the cab and driving off.


	20. Chapter 20

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty

"So what happened last night?" Mike asked as he came into Harvey's office. "Do you still have Seven Vodka as a client?"

"Of course I do." He replied, not looking up from his desk.

"So why aren't you happier about that?" Mike asked. "Rebecca didn't steal your client and everything is the way it was before this started."

"Don't you recognize that look on his face by now?" Donna asked as she came in and laid a folder on Harvey's desk. "It's the look he gets on his face when he has done something to piss Rebecca off and they aren't speaking."

"Donna…" He hoped just saying her name in his warning tone would show her he didn't want to talk about it.

"What do you think he did?" Mike asked Donna.

"My guess is it has something to do with the client." She theorized.

"If you're going to talk about me like I'm not here, can you do it somewhere else?" He requested.

"You know that if you were a jerk, you need to apologize. Right?" Mike asked.

"You know that if you don't want to get punched in the face you need to leave my office right now. Right?" He asked.

"Well that's my cue to leave." Mike chuckled.

"I'd like you to go too Donna, but obviously I won't threaten to punch you in the face." He told her. "I'll just threaten to dock your pay."

"Fine." She sighed.

After Donna left he picked up his phone and started a new text message.

 _I'm sorry about last night. Can we talk?_

He pressed send and then waited. Usually if he texted Rebecca, she texted back almost immediately. But as the minutes passed he wondered if she was going to text back at all.

She looked so hurt and angry last night before she got into the cab. He decided to text her again.

 _Please talk to me._

That was going to be the last he texted because he wasn't going to beg her to talk to him. If she didn't get back to him, it must mean that this thing they had was over. And despite the heaviness he felt in his heart, he convinced himself he would be just fine if it ended now.

* * *

She glanced at her phone and saw the second text from Harvey come through. He wanted to talk. As badly as she wanted to talk to him, she decided to be strong and make him sweat it out because she wasn't sure what to say to him anymore.

He really hurt her last night when she realized he truly thought she would steal his client from him. But she would deal with Harvey later. Right now she had a lot of work to do and she needed to focus.

"So how long have you been sleeping with Harvey Specter?" Xavier asked, barging into her office.

"Excuse me?" She asked, surprised by the question.

"I saw you two as I was leaving the party last night. You were kissing. How long has it been going on?"

She took one look at him and realized that he was pissed off. "I don't know…"

"Don't you dare lie to me!" He yelled. "Were you the one that tipped him off about Seven Vodka yesterday?"

She took a deep breath. Having Xavier yell at her like this was disconcerting. She decided maybe honesty was the best way to handle him right now. "Yes. I told him about how they were shopping for a new firm."

"Did you even try to get their business?"

"I'm getting tired of people asking me that." She sighed. "I did, but they didn't want our firm. They just wanted to get Harvey's attention. Once they had that, we didn't stand a chance."

"You shouldn't have tipped him off." Xavier told her. "Then we would have been able to take his client."

"Maybe and maybe not." She acknowledged. "I truly don't think they were going to change counsel. But I'm sorry I didn't let you know the full story."

"So how long have you two been together?"

"It's been a while now." She answered, not choosing to disclose the full length of time.

"You know you're playing with a stick of lit dynamite, right?" He asked.

"What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Harvey will break your heart." Xavier told her. "It's not a matter of if, but a matter of when. This thing, whatever it is you are doing with Harvey, it will explode in your face. You'd be much better off ending it now before you get in too deep."

"Thank you for your opinion." She told him. While it was completely inappropriate for him to be talking to her about her private life, she had to admit he had a point. She was playing with dynamite and there was no getting out of this without it exploding in her face.

"I just don't want to see you get hurt." He said before leaving.

She tried to get back to work but couldn't focus. The truth was, he already hurt her. With a heavy sigh she picked up her phone.

 _If you want to talk, I'll meet you in your office at 8pm tonight._

She pressed send. Before she even had a chance to put her phone back down, it went off.

 _I'll see you then._

It was uncharacteristic of him to answer so quickly. Any other time it would have brought a smile to her face. Right now though she was numb. She knew what she needed to do. Now she just needed to have the courage to do it.

* * *

Harvey glanced at the clock for what seemed like the fiftieth time. It was now 7:56 pm. Rebecca would be here any minute now, and he knew what he had to do. He had to apologize for last night. It wasn't going to be fun, but he needed to do it to get them back to where they were before.

When he looked at the clock again he noticed her figure in the doorway. "Hey."

"Hey." She came in and placed her purse on the chair in front of his desk. "You wanted to talk. So let's talk."

"I'm sorry." He said, getting up from his desk and walking around to get to her. "I was a jerk."

"Yeah." She nodded. "You were. But do you even realize why I was so upset?"

"I accused you of wanting to steal my client."

She sighed. "That's not exactly it."

"Then what is it?"

"You know, Donna likes to make fun sometimes and call me a female Harvey. I know she doesn't mean anything bad by it though so I've never taken offense to it. She just means she realizes that I am also highly driven to succeed, I like to win at almost any cost and I'm damn good at my job. But I'm not just like you. And I realized that last night."

"What are you talking about?" He was confused by her now.

"You believed I would steal your client." She pointed out. "And you thought so simply because it was my job."

"What's so wrong with thinking you would do your job?" He still didn't understand.

"Normally nothing is wrong with that. But I care about you Harvey. I care about you a lot. That should be so completely obvious by now that I shouldn't even have to say it. And to be completely honest, I care about you more than I care about making my boss happy and keeping my job. So I wouldn't have stolen Seven Vodka from you or any other client, even if I could have, because I wouldn't have done that to you. But I now know that if the situation had been reversed, you would have used every dirty trick in the book to steal my client from me. And that's what hurts the most."

"Rebecca…" He reached out to grab her but she moved back. "It's just business."

"No it's not." She argued. "You can say that all you want, but with us the line between business and personal always gets blurred."

She let that statement sit with him for a moment before continuing.

"You know, maybe I'm wrong but I don't feel like I expect that much from you." She said. "I know you're not great at relationships because you don't have a lot of experience with them. I know that you lash out when you feel scared. I know you have these incredibly high walls that you erect around yourself in order to keep from being vulnerable. And I've been trying so hard to cut you slack. But I also know that you are loyal to those you care about. You wouldn't try to steal a client from Mike, Jessica or Rachel or anyone else you care about. But apparently you'd do it to me."

She had a point. If the situation presented itself, he wouldn't have tried to steal a client from them. But he told her he would do that to her. It wasn't fair. He could say it was business all he wanted, but she was right. It blurred the line and turned personal. He could see how it would be hurtful to her.

"I thought if nothing else, we had worked on trust." She continued. "I thought you knew by now that I was on your side and that I wouldn't betray you. I thought maybe I had clawed my way into your life and you cared about me. I thought I was more than just someone you have sex with. But I think I was only fooling myself. You let me in just enough to make me feel like I'm making progress and then you smack me right back down again."

He knew where she was going with this speech. Any moment now she was going to say goodbye to him and walk out his door forever. He watched her face and knew she was speaking but her words sounded muffled. As much as he tried to tell himself that ending the relationship with her would be ok and he would be ok, he didn't believe himself.

She was wrong. She had clawed her way into his life. He had her body wash and shampoo in his shower. She kept clothes at his place. He started keeping the junk food she liked in his pantry, even though they didn't have the same taste in junk food. She practically lived at his place, staying over 95% of the time and the most surprising part was that he liked it that way. His favorite time of the day was when he got to see her in the evening. Hell, he even let her meet his family. She knew almost everything about him and she didn't run away screaming.

He knew he had to do something. There had to be a Hail-Mary pass he could do to save this. He wasn't ready to say goodbye to her.

"It all comes down to trust. And you don't trust me." She continued. "And I don't think we should…"

"Stop." He interrupted her. "Just stop for a moment and don't say what you were about to say."

"Harvey…don't make this harder than it already is."

He could see the tears welling in her eyes and he hated that he was the cause. "What if I tell you something that only a handful of other people know about? Something that could get me and those people in a lot of trouble if it got out?"

"I don't see what that would accomplish." She answered.

"You claim I don't trust you." He explained. "This would prove you wrong. It would prove that I trust you with everything I have and everything I am."

"You can't dangle a secret like that in front of me to try and get me to stay." She sighed.

"I know you're probably leaving me." He told her, taking a deep breath. "But for what it's worth, I do want to tell you before you leave. Because you're right. We did work on trust and I do trust you. Once you hear what I'm about to say, you'll know just how much I trust you. At the very least, you'll know that you weren't a complete fool like you thought."

"I don't know if I want to know now." She admitted.

He walked over and closed the door to his office before walking to his mini bar. "You might want to sit down." He poured two drinks and handed one to her. "It's a long story that starts three years ago when I was pressured by Jessica to hire my own associate. I wanted to fund someone like me.,,"


	21. Chapter 21

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-One

 _Harvey rolled over and saw Rebecca smiling at him. "Good morning."_

" _Good morning handsome." She smiled, leaning in to kiss him._

" _I'm so happy to see you back here." He said in between kisses._

" _You won't be so happy when you find out I'm only back here so I can do this." She said, getting out of bed._

 _Six federal agents busted into his room. "Harvey Specter, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit fraud…"_

Harvey shot straight up in bed, covered in sweat. He looked around at his empty bedroom and realized it was just a nightmare. Rebecca hadn't sold him out and he didn't believe she would. But it had been three days since he told her about Mike not being a lawyer and he had yet to hear from her. She told him she needed time to process everything. He wasn't sure if that meant he shouldn't contact her or not, so he was airing on the side of caution and giving her space.

He knew she wouldn't tell anyone about Mike. He trusted her. After all, she was willing to keep David's secret, even though it meant she had to let her father get away with murder. He doubted she would tell his secret.

What he didn't trust was his gamble would pay off. He hoped telling her about Mike would prove to her that he did trust her and he did care about her. He hoped she wouldn't end things with him. But now all he could do was wait.

* * *

Rebecca opened her door to leave for work and found Donna at her front door getting ready to knock. "Donna. What are you doing here?"

"I came by to see if you were alright." Donna answered.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"No, you're not." Donna insisted. "And you are also ignoring me. I want to know why. Is it Harvey? Does it have to do with why he has been moping around for the past few days?"

"I don't want to talk about Harvey." She told her friend. "And if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work."

"Wait a minute. I can understand why you are mad at Harvey. He most likely said or did something stupid about the Seven Vodka incident and deserves the silent treatment. But why are you acting mad at me? What did I do?"

"Donna, I'm not mad at you." She sighed.

"Ok. Then tell me what is going on."

"I just know, ok?"

"Know what?" Donna asked.

"I know about Mike." She explained, seeing the blood drain from Donna's face. "I know all of it. I was getting ready to break up with him and his response was to tell me everything that's happened with Mike."

"Wow." Donna chuckled. "For once I don't know what to say."

"That is a first." Rebecca noted with a chuckle.

"That's too much information to process at once."

"I know." She nodded. "Look, I need some time to process this. I told Harvey the same thing."

"Ok. I'll let you have some time." Donna nodded. She walked away a few steps then turned back. "But welcome to the inner circle of trust."

* * *

"I saw Rebecca." Donna said as she entered the office and closed the door.

His head shot up to look at her. "What? Where? When?"

"I went to her place this morning to find out why she had been ignoring me. I figured it was something you did and I was right. You told her about Mike."

"Are you mad?" He guessed she might be considering they all agreed not to tell anyone else.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm not mad."

"She doesn't think I care or trust her." He explained. "I thought…

"I understand why you'd want to tell her." She interrupted. "It makes total sense to me."

"How is she doing?"

Donna sighed. "How do you think she is doing? She is panicked. It was clear to see on her face."

"I wanna talk to her but…"

"She asked for some time." She nodded. "I know. She told me."

"Do you think it was a mistake to tell her?"

"What do you think?" Donna chuckled.

"I don't think it was a mistake. I know she won't tell anyone." He reasoned. "I just don't know if it will help bring her back."

"Whatever happens, I'm proud of you Harvey." He looked over and saw her smiling at him.

"Why?" He asked.

"You've been really trying to be better at your relationship with Rebecca. I can see it. A couple of years ago you wouldn't have even tried. You're making some real, meaningful progress here." Without another word Donna went back to her desk.

She was right. He wouldn't have even tried a relationship a couple of years ago. Back then he would have rather detached his arm with a rusty saw rather than get deeply involved with a woman.

* * *

Rebecca paced outside Harvey's door for a good ten minutes, trying to figure out if coming here was a good idea or not. It didn't feel right for her to use her key this time. She finally pounded on the door. This was something she had to get off her chest.

It didn't take long for Harvey to open the door. There was a slightly angry look on his face that melted when he saw her standing there. She guessed he wasn't expecting to see her on the other side.

"Hey." He greeted.

"We need to talk." She pushed her way into his place, throwing her purse on the counter and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I know we need to talk." He nodded, coming to stand a few feet from her. "I'm glad you're here."

"You're insane, you know that, right?" She asked.

"I guess that is a fair…"

"No. Just stop." She interrupted. "I listened to your whole story the other night. Now it's my turn to talk. Ok?"

He nodded his head so she continued.

"You knowingly hired a man as a lawyer who has not only never graduated from law school but isn't even a real member of the bar. You've put every case he's worked on in jeopardy because if they ever find out those cases will be reopened and re-examined with a fine tooth comb. Everything good he has done as a lawyer will be reversed. You've put everyone who knows about this in danger. And you've put your whole life on the line. You could get disbarred and thrown in jail for this, Harvey. But the worst part about it is you know all of this and yet you still don't do anything about it. You actually act like it doesn't matter. That's why you're insane."

She went from angry to crying from the beginning of that rant to the end of it. Instead of saying anything, Harvey tried to close the gap between them and envelope her into a hug but she stepped back from him.

"I'm sorry if you think I put you in danger by telling you." He whispered.

"I don't give a shit about that. I can take care of myself." She shook her head, wiping the tears off her face. "I give a shit about why you are being so damn reckless with your own life. Do you really not care what happens to you? Or are you just that damn naïve to think that nothing can touch you because you're the great and powerful Harvey Specter?"

"I'm not being reckless and I'm not naive." He told her. "But no one is going to find out about Mike. We've covered our tracks."

"You think just because you had your hacker create a digital trail everything is fine? Get it through your head. You aren't invincible." She scoffed. She wiped the tears from her eyes. "Someone is going to find out someday and this is all going to blow up in your face. People are going to get hurt."

"And it won't come back on you in any way. I promise you that you won't get hurt. I'll take the full blame for it if someone finds out."

"That's why you are insane." She scoffed again. "Is that supposed to somehow make me feel better? Because if you take the blame for this, it will hurt me more than you could ever know."

"Well what do you want me to do?" He asked after a moment.

She could tell by his tone he was getting defensive.

"You want me to turn Mike in? Pretend I just found out and make him take the blame for something that he and I did together? Make sure that his wife and kid don't get to see him except through prison bars for the next twenty years?"

"No!" She argued. "I don't want that. It would ruin Mike and Rachel's lives, as well as yours. I just…God…I…wish you hadn't told me."

"I'm sorry."

She looked at him and knew he was telling the truth.

"I thought that if I told you…"

"Oh I know exactly what the hell you were thinking when you told me." She interrupted. "You thought this secret would keep me with you. You thought that I would see it as you trying to let down your walls more and so you actively tried to manipulate me into staying."

"I won't lie." He sighed. "I hoped it would and I still hope you won't leave."

"Then you truly are insane!" She yelled, pushing past him to leave.

* * *

"Harvey?"

He looked up and saw Mike was in his office. "What?"

"I've been trying to talk to you for almost five minutes. What's going on with you?"

He sighed. "Rebecca came by last night. She yelled at me and called me insane several times."

"She'll calm down."

"I doubt it." He chuckled. "You didn't see the look in her eye. She is pissed and I don't think time is going to change that. She's convinced that this lie is going to destroy my life. Maybe telling her wasn't the right decision after all. Anyway, what's up?"

"Just an issue with the Swanson merger." Mike handed him the folder.

"Ok." He took a deep breath after reading the file. "Let's go kick some ass."

* * *

"What are you doing here?" She asked, opening her door to reveal Mike Ross at her doorstep.

"May I come in for a moment?"

She sighed and made room for him.

"Harvey told me that you know everything." He said, starting the conversation.

"Yeah." She nodded. "That's right."

"He also told me how you yelled at him. I thought maybe instead of lashing out at him you could lash out at me, you know since I'm the one that got us all into this mess in the first place.

"How noble of you to take the blame for Harvey." She scoffed. "I just have one question for you. Why?"

"I needed money to take care of my grandmother. I thought…"

"No. I understand that perfectly." She interrupted. "Why are you still doing this? Your grandmother, God rest her soul, is unfortunately gone now. But you're still parading around as a lawyer. So my question is why?"

He sighed deeply. "I love the law. I love helping people with the law and I'm damn good at it."

"You know Harvey will never turn on you, right?" She chuckled. "He'd Thelma and Louise it right over a cliff with you if it ever came to that and he wouldn't think twice about doing it either."

"I know." Mike nodded, smiling at the movie reference. "I feel the same way about him."

She walked over to her window and stared at the skyline, aware that he came over and was standing next to her. "I kind of wish he hadn't told me."

"For what it's worth, I am sorry you have to carry the burden of my secret."

"For what it's worth, I don't give a shit about your secret. I give a shit that Harvey has put himself in a situation that could potentially blow up his entire life and the lives of those closest to him. And he doesn't seem to see it. Or if he does, he just doesn't care." She looked over at him.

"But you can relax, Mike. I'm never going to tell anyone anything about you other than you are a damn fine lawyer. I know that you have come through for him time and time again and he thinks of you as family. Your secret is safe with me."

"I wasn't worried." He protested. "Harvey trusts you enough to tell you. That's good enough for me." He was quiet for a moment. "So if you weren't lashing out at Harvey because you were really mad at me, then why were you lashing out at Harvey?

"Did Harvey send you over here?"

"He has no clue I'm here and I think we both know he would be pissed off if he knew I was interfering in his personal life. I actually got your address from Donna because she is worried about you."

"She told me 'welcome to the inner circle'." She laughed. "But I'm not really a part of the inner circle."

"Harvey told you his biggest secret, a secret you could use to destroy his life if you ever decided that's what you want. He gave you the weapon and the blueprint on how to destroy him because he trusts you not to do it." Mike pointed out. "If that doesn't mean you are a part of his inner circle, I don't know what does."

She shook her head. "He only told me as a last-ditch effort to keep me from breaking up with him. I accused him of not trusting me and not caring about me as much as he cares about all of you."

"And he opened up and told you something important about himself."

"Only because he felt I backed him into a corner." She protested.

"You know Harvey doesn't do anything he doesn't want to do. He's not stupid and he's not impulsive. He thinks things out and he had to have had more than just one reason to tell you. I think you know that though and are just using that as an excuse." Mike pointed out.

"An excuse for what?" She asked.

"It's not my place to say this, but I'm going to say it anyway because someone has to. It's pretty obvious to everyone except Harvey that you love him. And it isn't obvious to him because most of the time he has the emotional intelligence of a seven year old. But if I had to make a guess, I'd say you're scared and looking for a way to minimize your potential heartbreak down the road."

He paused for a moment. "Harvey is one of the most frustrating people I've ever met, and one of the most confusing. But I'm sure you know that. I'm also sure you know that Harvey is worth every second of it."

She didn't say anything because there was nothing to say. He had a point there.

"Look, I've taken enough of your time. I'll let myself out."

She turned back to the window and didn't say anything else to him as he walked out of her apartment.

* * *

It was almost midnight when Rebecca used her key to get into Harvey's penthouse. During the cab ride over she wondered if she was doing the right thing. Mike was right. She loved Harvey. And if she was being honest with herself, she did think ending their relationship now would be for the best because she didn't want to end up with her heart broken later on. But even the thought of being without him made her heart hurt too much.

It had been about a month since Rachel and Mike's wedding, where she realized she was in love with Harvey. It was possible that she was over-reacting and using this as an excuse to try and save herself heartbreak later on.

He was trying to let her in by telling her about Mike and the deception they had been running about his nonexistent law degree. While she knew in her heart that Mike's secret would blow up one of these days, she couldn't bear to turn her back on Harvey because of this.

She noticed that the lights were dimmed, which meant he was in the bedroom. She entered the bedroom and saw him sleeping on his side, wrapped up in the covers. It was early for him to be asleep. She took off her coat before pulling the covers back and slipping into the bed.

She immediately moved his arm and cuddled up to him. He pulled her closer to him and she turned her head to look into his eyes. He was awake now and staring at her.

"You're back?" He whispered.

"I'm back." She whispered.

"Oh thank God." He smiled, giving her a kiss.

She pulled away from the kiss and rested her head against his chest. "Let's just get some sleep."

* * *

The next morning Harvey woke up before Rebecca and laid in bed staring at her. It wasn't a dream and he was grateful. It surprised him when she crawled into bed with him last night, but it was a wonderful surprise. They still needed to talk about what this meant. Though for now he was content having her next to him.

He saw her eyes slowly flutter open and smiled at her. "Good morning."

"What time is it?" She asked.

"It's about 8." He answered. Since it was a Saturday, he didn't have to go into the office and he hoped she didn't have to either. "Do you want some coffee?"

"No." She shook her head. "Can we just stay here for a while?"

"That's fine with me." He wanted to stay here with her for as long as possible. "We can stay here forever if you want."

"I hope you don't mind I used my key last night."

He noticed she looked nervous around him and vowed to make that go away. Brushing hair from her face, he leaned in and gave her a soft kiss. "It was a wonderful surprise and I don't mind. I gave you that key so you could come and go whenever you wanted. But to be honest I didn't think you'd ever come back."

"To be honest I wasn't sure if I was coming back or not either." She whispered.

"What changed your mind?" He couldn't help but be curious.

"I realized I over-reacted about some things. I'm sorry."

"As far as I'm concerned, you don't need to apologize." He leaned in and kissed her gently. "I shouldn't have accused you of trying to take my client and I shouldn't have tried to manipulate you by telling you about Mike."

She sighed. "It's ok."

"Are we ok?" He was almost afraid to hear the answer but he had to know.

She smirked and then moved to climb on top of him. "What does this tell you?"

Just as she was about to kiss him, his cell went off and he groaned. She moved off of him and laughed.

"I'll get rid of whoever it is." He promised. Mike didn't even give him a chance to say hello before he started on his rant.

"We have a problem with the Swanson merger again. Merton Industries is filing a patent infringement suit against them."

"They're only doing that to stop the merger." Harvey sighed. "Take care of it."

"Me?" Mike laughed.

"Yes you." Harvey repeated. "I'm busy."

"Too busy to do your job?"

"Yeah. I'm definitely too busy for that today. I plan on staying in bed all day." Harvey replied, looking over at Rebecca.

"Oh, I get it now." Mike laughed. "Have fun with Rebecca."

Harvey hung up the phone and tossed the phone across the room. "Now…where were we?"

"I think we were right about here." She smiled, climbing back on top of him.

"One of my favorite places to be." He smirked.


	22. Chapter 22

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Hey." She smiled when she saw Harvey come into her office. "What are you doing here?" She rushed over and gave him a quick kiss.

"You said you were working late again tonight and I thought I would bring you some food since it seems like it's my only chance to see you this week." He explained, holding up a bag.

"Is that from Marchino's?" She recognized the take out containers and was excited because it was her favorite place to get Italian take out. And it meant a lot to her that he knew it and would bring it all the way over here for her without being asked.

"Of course it is." He smiled. "I know how much you like that place."

She took the bag and placed it on her desk, examining what he got her. It was all of her favorites, including their chocolate cake. "You even got me dessert."

"While I don't agree that it is the best cake in the city, I know you like it." He said as he came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"God, that's why I love you Harvey." She said without thinking. That wasn't something she wanted to tell him right now and definitely not in this way. She cringed, knowing this would freak him out. She was right because after she said it he let go of her like he was burned by her touch.

There were two choices now…either own up to it and have a conversation which she wasn't ready for or pretend she didn't realize she said it and ignore that it happened. In a split second she realized she would pretend she didn't say it.

Putting a smile on her face, she turned around. "This was really nice of you. I'm sorry I have been so wrapped up in this case lately. Hopefully it will be over soon and things can go back to normal."

The look on his face told her that things were not going to go back to normal. First there was shock, then confusion and then anger.

She realized she couldn't pretend it didn't happen. They were going to have to talk about it. They stood there staring at each other for what felt like an eternity. But she wasn't going to be the one to bring up her slip-up.

While what she said was true and she did love him, it wasn't the right time to say something like that to him. Honestly she wasn't sure the time would ever be right to tell him. He was so gun shy about relationships that she had been prepared to never tell him. It just slipped out and now she was going to pay for it.

He gave her one last look and then turned to leave. She wasn't sure what to say, but knew she couldn't let him just leave. "Harvey…"

"You need to get back to work." He told her before leaving.

She followed him to the elevator and grabbed his arm. "Harvey. We need to talk."

"There's nothing to talk about." He shrugged, removing his arm from her grasp. "Just go back to work."

"I'll try to come by in a couple of hours." She told him.

He shrugged again. "You're busy. You don't have to."

She wasn't sure what else to say or do to keep him from leaving. If she could, she would just follow him back home now and demand he talk to her. But this class action case was important too and she needed to get more work done before she could call it quits for the night. She watched him enter the elevator. He avoided looking at her as the doors closed.

"Shit." She sighed, slowing walking back to her office.

* * *

Harvey sat in his chair, nursing his second drink. Tonight turned into a disaster. He took her dinner because he thought it would be a nice thing to do. She had been working on the class action lawsuit with Xavier for the past two weeks and putting in a lot of long hours.

She was still coming by and sleeping here next to him every night, but she wouldn't get in until at least one in the morning and by then he was usually asleep. The only time he really got to say anything to her was in the mornings. But usually she was busy rushing off to go back to work and their conversations were short. To be honest, he missed her.

Hearing her say she loved him was the last thing he expected tonight. It shouldn't have caught him so off-guard. If he wanted to be completely honest with himself, he had known she was in love with him for a while now. He wasn't as clueless as everyone thought. He could see it in her eyes when she looked at him and could tell by the things she did for him. After all, she was keeping the secret about Mike. That was something that you'd only do for someone you truly care about.

He wasn't sure why he got so angry after hearing her say it. It was a knee-jerk reaction. While he knew she loved him, it was another thing to actually hear her say it. He wasn't ready for it. It scared him and made him want to run screaming in the other direction.

Being in a relationship with her wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. He imagined it as being something that would suffocate him and make him weaker. But in actuality it had been making him stronger in some ways. She made him stronger.

But he also felt extremely vulnerable at the same time and he definitely wasn't ready for this step. He wasn't ready to hear her vocalize her feelings for him, and there was no way he was ready to tell her he loved her.

The way he saw it, he had three options. The first would be to ignore she even said it. The second would be to tell her he loved her too. The last option would be to break up. The second option was immediately cut out of the decision making process, leaving the first and last options. The thought of breaking up didn't make him happy so he cut that option from the list, leaving ignoring as the winner.

With that settled, he downed the rest of his drink.

* * *

Rebecca quietly entered Harvey's penthouse that morning. It was almost one and she was exhausted. She worked her butt off to get the briefs done as quickly as possible for today's meeting so she could come back here. She realized Harvey was probably already asleep so she wouldn't be able to talk to him until the morning. But maybe she could at least get some sleep.

She entered the bedroom and started quietly taking off her clothes. After opening the drawer, she pulled out the Harvard shirt and slipped it on. Then she looked over at the bed. Harvey was asleep on his back so she took a moment to stare at him.

She shouldn't have told him she loved him like that. He wasn't ready to know it and now she worried that she had ruined things between them. It wasn't her intention to say it. It just popped out because she was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of him bringing her dinner. It meant a lot to her, especially since he got some of her favorite foods.

There had to be something she could do to make it right. But at this moment she was exhausted and it would have to wait until the morning. She climbed into bed carefully so she didn't wake him up. As much as she wanted to cuddle up next to him, she wasn't sure if he was still angry with her. So she stayed on her side and closed her eyes.

A moment later, she felt him shift around in the bed. She opened her eyes to find him on his side, facing her. His eyes were still closed but his arms reached over to pull her close to him.

She gently pushed him so he was laying on his back and laid her head on his chest. His arms wrapped around her body and she immediately relaxed. Maybe things weren't completely ruined between them after all.

* * *

Harvey stood in the kitchen eating an apple and looking at the paper when he noticed her emerge from the bedroom. She was already dressed and he saw the hesitant look on her face. "Coffee?"

"Yes please." She smiled, approaching the counter.

"What time did you get in last night?" He asked as he poured her a cup.

"It was late." She sighed. "Maybe around 1?"

"That's the fourth night this week." He pointed out.

"This class action suit just keeps blowing up." She explained after some coffee. "It's one thing after another. I'll be glad when it is over."

He nodded and then went back to eating his apple and reading the newspaper.

"So…we're just ignoring what happened last night?" She asked.

He sighed. "We're trying to."

"Ok. I can respect that." She placed her mug on the counter before picking up her purse. "I should get back to the office." Then she crossed to his side of the counter. She leaned in close to him and gave him a long, slow kiss. "But try to ignore that." She whispered, moving to leave.

She was surprised when he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back, trapping her between him and the counter.

"You know damn well I can't ignore that." He smirked.

"Well I was hoping you wouldn't." She smiled back at him.

"Do you have an extra twenty minutes?" He asked.

"For you?" She laughed. "Always."

* * *

A half hour later, she left his penthouse. On the way to the elevator, she pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Hey." She greeted when the other person picked up.

"You don't normally call me this early." Donna pointed out. "What's wrong?"

"I need you to help me figure out what to do."

Donna laughed. "What did Harvey do this time?"

"He didn't do anything. This time it was all me." She explained. "We brought me dinner last night while I was working and I kind of blurted out that I love him."

"Oh…"

"How bad do you think this is?" She asked hesitantly.

"How bad do you think?" Donna said, answering the question with her own question. "I haven't seen him yet so I can't be sure, but you know this has to have spooked him. Right?"

"I know." She sighed. "He basically just left my office afterwards last night then this morning he was acting like everything was fine. He apparently just wants to pretend I didn't say it. But there was still some awkwardness and I'm worried."

"Why did you say it?"

Donna's words weren't accusatory so she knew she didn't have to be defensive with her friend. "Trust me…I didn't mean to. It was just that he brought me dinner and it was so sweet. Before I knew what I was doing, I ended up blurting it out. It was a stupid thing for me to say."

"Well loving him isn't stupid." Donna pointed out. "And if you had done it in a different way, maybe saying it wouldn't have been so bad."

"You're right. Look, I don't want to put you in the middle of this but is there any way you could just let me know if I need to be worried?"

"You think he will try to run?" Donna asked.

"I know he will." She told her friend. "I just want to be prepared for it."

"I'll see what I can find out."

"Thank you Donna."


	23. Chapter 23

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Three

"What do you want, Donna?" Harvey asked gruffly as she entered his office.

"You look a little off your game today. What's going on with you?" She asked as she sat down.

He stared at her and raised an eyebrow. "You know, don't you?"

"Know what?"

"Don't play dumb with me." He commanded in a light tone. "You know what happened last night because Rebecca has already told you."

Donna didn't reply so he knew he was right. "Sometimes I hate that you two are such good friends."

"Ah, no you don't." Donna laughed. "You love it."

He scowled at her choice of words. "Can we please just not talk about this?"

"We could do that…" She nodded. "But you know it's not good to hold these kinds of things inside. So spill it…"

"Spill what?"

"Don't you play dumb with me now." Donna laughed. "You're telling me you have no thoughts or feelings about what happened last night?"

"No." He shook his head. "I don't."

"Bullshit." She paused for a moment, studying him. "Let me guess then. You are freaked out by what she said and you are contemplating what your next move is going to be."

"Why wouldn't I be freaked out?" He asked. "Donna, you know me. I don't engage in romantic love."

"You may not have in the past." She pointed out. "But you have to admit that Rebecca has gotten you to push past some of your walls."

"But I'm not ready for this wall to come down." He told her.

"Then I think that's exactly what you need to tell her. Just be honest with her." Donna said as she stood up. "And for God's sake, don't be a coward and run from her."

He sat back in his chair and sighed.

* * *

That night he decided to go back to Rebecca's office. He knew she was in the middle of the class action lawsuit but they really needed to talk this through and he wasn't sure when she would get back tonight. Her office door was partially open. He was about to knock when he heard voices coming from inside. She was in there with Xavier.

"I don't think they will be able to turn down this settlement." Rebecca said. "Because we can tell them that if they take it to trial we are going to put every single one of them on the stand and tear them apart. We have enough dirt on the plaintiffs now that there's no way they can win at trial and tomorrow they will find that out."

"You're a genius!" Xavier praised.

Harvey moved so that he could see inside the office. They were both standing over by her desk. Rebecca had a file in her hand and she turned to Xavier.

"I don't know about a genius." She chuckled.

"Well I do." He nodded. "I knew I made a good decision when I hired you."

"Well thank you…"

Xavier cut her off by kissing her. He watched and was about to storm in there when he saw Rebecca pull away and immediately slap Xavier in the face.

"What the hell do you think you are you doing?"

"I thought we had a connection." Xavier said.

"You thought wrong." She told him. "You know I'm with Harvey and I'm happy with him."

"You and I both know that this thing with Harvey won't last. You need someone more emotionally available. He will never be able to give you what you truly need."

"Let me repeat myself in case I wasn't clear a moment ago." She sighed. "I am happy with Harvey. I don't want you kissing me and I definitely don't want your relationship advice. Ok? Got it?"

"Fine." He sighed.

Harvey had seen enough and hurried off back to the elevator. The last thing he wanted was to be caught eavesdropping.

* * *

"Can you please just leave my office?" She asked Xavier.

"Ok." He sighed. "I'm sorry for kissing you."

"Thank you." She waited until he was gone before going over and sitting down at her desk. This was a mess. She wasn't sure if she should tell Harvey about it or not. After what happened last night, it could push him over the edge. But not telling him seemed wrong. Either way he could see it as a betrayal.

The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she was screwed either way. Between this and telling him she loved him last night, there was no way he would be able to handle it.

* * *

Harvey heard the lock click and knew that Rebecca was back. He poured another drink. At this point he wasn't sure what number drink that was for the night. He stopped counting after four.

After he saw Xavier kiss her, the first response he had was rage. The rage was directed primarily towards Xavier for encroaching on his woman. The second response was pain. It hurt to see her kiss another man. Even though he knew that it wasn't a consensual kiss it still hurt to see it. While he was happy she slapped Xavier and set him straight, it wasn't a fun thing to watch.

He came back here and started drinking because the third response was uncertainty. He didn't know if she was going to tell him about it. As of now she was unaware that he knew what had happened. But she knew his thoughts on cheating and he was curious about whether or not she would volunteer the information.

And Xavier was right about something. She deserved someone who was more emotionally available. He had gone over there tonight to tell her he wasn't ready to say he loved her and he wasn't sure when or if he would be able to say that. She deserved better than that. She deserved to be with a guy wanted to scream his love for her from the rooftops. He wasn't sure that would ever be possible for him.

"Hey." She smiled. "I didn't expect you to still be awake."

"I couldn't sleep." He told her.

"Did you have a bad day?" She asked.

"Not really." He lied. "How was your day?'

"Exhausting." She sighed. "I just want to go straight to bed."

"So nothing interesting happened at all today?"

"No. Nothing worth talking about right now." She answered, looking at him strangely. "If you don't mind, I really just need to sleep."

"So your boss didn't kiss you tonight?" He asked point blank. He saw her face fall and knew now that she had no intention of telling him about it. "I came by your office and saw everything."

"Harvey…"

"No. Don't Harvey me. You weren't going to tell me that, were you?"

"Not tonight, no." She sighed.

"And why the hell not?" He yelled, getting out of his seat. "You know my history with cheating…"

"I know! And that's why I wasn't going to tell you tonight." She yelled back. "We aren't exactly on solid ground right now because of what happened last night. I feel like you are looking for a way to leave this relationship. I was worried you would use this as your Golden Ticket out of our relationship."

"Well your betrayal did just make it very easy for me." He spat out.

"It wasn't a betrayal. I didn't kiss him." She argued. "And if you were there then you know that. He kissed me and then I slapped him and set him straight on how he can't do that again."

"I know all of that." He nodded. "But then you didn't tell me about it. That's how you betrayed me."

"Ok. You're right." She started to tear up. "I didn't tell you tonight. And I'm sorry about that. I was wrong not to tell you. But the only reason I didn't tell you about it tonight is because I know you are still freaked out by the fact that I told you I love you last night. I was scared. You can't tell me you've never been scared…"

"The difference is your response was to lie."

"I didn't lie." She pointed out. "I just…"

"You just didn't tell me the whole truth." He finished her sentence for her. "This proves I can't trust you."

"Seriously?" She scoffed. "You just trusted me with your secret about Mike a few weeks ago and now all of a sudden you feel like you can't trust me?"

"I was clearly wrong to tell you about Mike." He pointed out. "And yeah, I can't trust you. You can't keep things like this from me! Loyalty means you tell me everything! You don't pick and choose what you get to tell me."

"Like you did?" She scoffed again. "You waited months to tell me about Mike and even then you only did it so that I wouldn't break up with you. Do you really call that loyalty? Because I call it hypocrisy, bordering on emotional blackmail."

"I'm not the one who lied tonight or the one who betrayed the other." He pointed out.

"I'm sorry Harvey." She apologized again. "I should have told you about it tonight. I just didn't want to fight over something that meant nothing to me."

"It means something to me." He told her.

"You think I don't know what is really going on here but I do. You are freaked out about me saying I love you and so you're blowing this stupid thing with Xavier way out of proportion. I didn't want him to kiss me and I didn't like him kissing me. But I'm not going to let you blow up everything we have because of it. I'm going to go to bed and we can try to talk about this tomorrow morning when you're thinking more rationally."

He saw her start to move towards the bedroom and stood in her way. "I don't think we should see each other anymore."

"What?"

He hated seeing the hurt look on her face but he knew this was for the best. Xavier was an asshole for kissing her, but he was correct about something. Rebecca did deserve a guy who was more emotionally available and he couldn't guarantee he could ever be that guy for her.

"Harvey…c'mon. Don't do this…"

He could see she was about to cry and wanted to take it back. The last thing he ever wanted to do was hurt her. But he had to be strong and not cave about this. It would be better for her in the long run.

"I'm not doing anything. You did this to yourself by lying to me." He told her. "I think it would be best if we didn't see each other anymore."

"No." She shook her head. "I don't agree. This is just a knee-jerk reaction to what I said last night. We can work through this."

"No. We can't." He insisted. "I want you out of my apartment. And I want your key back before you leave."

"Harvey…"

"Do you really want me to say it?" He asked. "Because I'll say it. You may love me, but I sure as shit don't love you back and I never will."

This was harder for him than he thought it would be, especially since she looked like she was going to start sobbing at any moment.

She wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks. "Ok. Fine. You want to break up tonight? That's fine. Because I know it won't last. You'll get over this. You'll realize that you were just lashing out because you're scared and everything will fine again. It will just be a bump in the road and then we'll end up laughing about it."

"No." He shook his head. "This break up is for good. I don't want you in my life anymore in any way."

"You can't really mean that." She shook her head.

"Oh I absolutely mean it." He lied. It broke his heart to say it, but he knew it was for her own good. "I don't love you and I never will." He could see that she still wasn't convinced so he continued to lie his ass off.

"C'mon you had to have known that this relationship had an expiration date. I've tried the whole committed relationship thing but it isn't for me. We were never going to live happily ever after like Mike and Rachel. And if you thought that we would, then you were delusional. I'm not the guy who settles down and you knew that going into this. I'm actually surprised you were able to hold my attention for this long. But I'm done with you now and I want you to just go away."

She stared at him for a moment. "You know what? Fine. You want me out of your life, I'm out." She walked over to where she left her purse and pulled out her keys.

He could see her hands were shaking as she took his key off her keyring. She slammed it down on the counter and then took her stuff and left, slamming the door behind her.

Once she was gone, he went back and sat down. This was a fine mess he found himself in.


	24. Chapter 24

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Four

Harvey typed on his computer, aware that Donna had entered his office.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"It's my office. I'm working." He reminded her, not looking up from the screen.

"I know, but it's early and you are never here at this time." She pointed out.

"I just felt like coming in and getting some work done. Why is that so wrong?"

To be honest, he had been up most of the night replaying his conversation with Rebecca and wondering if he had done the right thing. Second guessing himself wasn't something he was used to, but this decision weighed on him.

Breaking up was a knee-jerk reaction. She had been right about that. But it was for her own good. She needed to be with someone who could give her what she wanted. Whether or not she wanted to admit it, she wanted what Mike and Rachel have. Maybe she didn't want the house in suburbia. But she wanted the marriage and possibly also the kids.

And those were things he wasn't sure he could ever give her. The sooner he stopped wasting her time, the better off she would be.

He finally looked up at Donna when she didn't leave. She was looking at him suspiciously.

"What's going on?" She asked softly.

"Nothing." He shook his head and then went back to typing.

"I'll just call Rebecca then and find out from her why you are being so cagey."

"No." He said quickly. "Don't call her."

"What happened?" She asked.

"She didn't call you last night?" He asked, surprised by that. He would have figured Donna would have been the first person Rebecca talked to about this.

"No." Donna shook her head. "Why? What happened last night?"

"I broke up with her." He said nonchalantly. "When you get a chance, can I get a copy of the Mendelson brief?"

"You did what?" Donna exclaimed. "Harvey, why?"

"It's complicated." He answered.

"I told you not to run." She scolded.

"And I'm not discussing this with you. Now I need that brief."

"I hope you know what you're doing." Donna said before leaving.

He continued to type for a moment and then stopped. To be honest, he hoped he knew what he was doing too. It hadn't even been twelve hours since he last saw her and he already missed her.

* * *

Rebecca trudged into her office. If she could have, she would have called in sick. But she had the settlement meeting with Xavier today about the class action suit. There was no way she could miss that. He would likely kill her.

She stayed up most of the night crying until she finally fell asleep a half hour before her alarm went off. The three cups of coffee she had consumed already didn't even make a dent in her energy level.

"Whoa. Are you ok?" Xavier asked as he entered her office.

"I'm fine." She lied.

"You look terrible." He told her.

"Gee, thanks. I think I'm coming down with something." It was the only lie she could think of that would work in this situation because there was no way in hell she was going to tell him that Harvey had broken up with her.

"We have the settlement meeting in five minutes."

"I know." She nodded. "I'll be ok for that."

"Ok." She caught him looking at her suspiciously. "I'll meet you in the conference room. If this settlement agreement goes through like I believe it will, you should go home and rest."

"I might." She would definitely think about it. After he left her office, her cell rang. She looked at the caller id and saw it was Donna. There was no way she could talk to her right now so she sent it to voicemail and silenced the ringer.

She didn't want to talk about what happened with anyone. Honestly all she wanted to do was lay in bed with the covers over her head. But she had to go kick some ass and get the settlement offer approved. Putting her game face on, she took a deep breath and left for the conference room.

* * *

Rebecca managed to stay at work until 5 and then left early. The settlement conference went well and the other side signed the agreement. So at least something good happened. Donna had been calling her all day but she sent every call to voicemail. There was nothing her friend could say to help her through this.

After leaving work she stopped at the liquor store around the corner from her place to get some vodka. Since tomorrow was Saturday she was going to drink until she could quiet all the voices in her mind and fall asleep. She was already on her way, having had three tall glasses of straight vodka.

All day long her mind had been racing, thinking about all of the things she could have done differently. Maybe if the first thing out of her mouth when she saw Harvey was that Xavier kissed her things could have been different. Maybe if she hadn't blurted out she loved him in the first place, none of this would have happened. Maybe she could have refused to leave his place last night and instead forced him to confront his anxieties.

But none of those things had happened. All that did happen was he broke up with her and she was now miserable. It was like he saw into her mind, took all of her fears and then spit them back out to her so he could hurt her.

She had been convinced that he was just lashing out because she was dumb enough to tell him she loved him like that. It was the wrong way and the wrong time to do it. But she couldn't take it back. And Xavier kissing her didn't help matters much.

Now though, maybe he really was tired of her. Either way, she had to deal with the reality. He was no longer in her life and she had to find a way to be ok with that.

There was a knock on her door and she knew who it was. It had to be Donna checking on her. While she didn't want to talk, she also knew that Donna wouldn't leave until she opened the door. So she grabbed her glass and headed to her door.

Opening it, she wasn't surprised to see she was right. Donna was standing on her doorstep.

"You haven't answered your phone all day."

"I didn't want to talk." She sighed, taking a drink.

"Can I come in?" Donna asked.

"Why not? I'm sure by now Harvey's told you what happened." She stepped aside. "Do you want some vodka? I've got plenty and I don't mind sharing with you."

"No thanks."

"Ok. More for me then."

"Is this your master plan?" Donna asked, motioning to the bottles. "Just getting drunk?"

"It's better than what I did last night, which was cry the entire night." She explained. "I think it's a step in the right direction."

"You should be going over there and fighting for Harvey."

She couldn't help but laugh. "I'm not doing that."

"Why not?"

"He made it perfectly clear that he doesn't want me in his life anymore." She explained. "He doesn't love me and he never will. He's tired of me. Those were his words. I'm not chasing after someone who tells me things like that. I've put up with a lot shit from him because I thought that there was a chance for us. But he's right. I was delusional to think we could have a real, adult and mature relationship. And now I see it clearly."

"What the hell happened between you two last night?" Donna asked.

"He didn't tell you?" She scoffed.

"No. He just said he broke up with you." Donna shook her head. "And I can't help until I know what happened."

"No offense but there isn't anything you can do to help with this." She told her friend. "But I'll tell you what happened anyway. You may want to sit down for this story…"

* * *

Harvey stood at the window of his penthouse with a drink in his hand. It was quiet in his place, quieter than what he was used to now. He attributed that to the fact that Rebecca wasn't here, talking to him or playing his records. She had made it into a game where she picked a record at random and then tried to get him to finish song lyrics from some of the songs. He would miss that.

He would actually miss a lot of things. She always made him a huge breakfast on Sundays, and then they would go back to bed and work off the calories before usually doing some work for whatever cases they had going on. Saturday nights she always made him a big dinner from scratch. She was a great chef and he appreciated having home cooked meals. Sometimes she would make dinner during the week too if they weren't too swamped with work. They would do dishes together and most of the time they would get distracted and end up having sex in the kitchen.

Sometimes he would exercise on the balcony and she would just sit and stare at him while he did sit-ups or push-ups. She'd give him either encouragement or shit about not doing enough, depending on what she knew would motivate him more that day. She always seemed to know what would motivate him the most, almost as if she had a sixth sense about him.

He missed her already.

He pushed those thoughts from his mind. He did the right thing by breaking up with her and just needed to convince himself of that for a while. After a few days it would get easier and he would be able to move on.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed the bonus chapter tonight. I know this story has taken a twist...please trust me though! I have a plan. :)


	25. Chapter 25

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Five

" _Rebecca? What are you doing here?" He was surprised to find her standing in his living room. "How did you get in here?"_

" _I have my ways." She told him._

" _So what are you doing here?" He felt the need to repeat the question since she seemed to ignore it the first time._

" _I came here to tell you that I've gone to the DA and told them all about Mike. I especially told them all about your role in hiring him and how you were the mastermind behind the whole thing. And since I knew about it and didn't report it at first, I cut a deal to save myself. I'm going to be their star witness in exchange for immunity. And now I get the extreme pleasure of watching your entire life go down the drain."_

 _She smiled. "You can kiss your law license and your freedom goodbye. I might someday come to the prison to visit you and see how you are holding up. Oh, and let's not forget about Mike. I doubt the judge will be lenient with him. Maybe you will catch a break and be able to share a jail cell with him." She explained, coming closer to him._

" _No. You're lying. You wouldn't do that to me." He shook his head._

"No." She chuckled lightly. "You're right. I wouldn't do that to you. I just wanted you to know how it felt for a second."

" _How what felt?" He was confused now._

" _You know…" She trailed off for a moment as she pressed herself up against his body. "How it feels to be stabbed in gut by someone you love by having them lie and turn your greatest fears against you like you did with me."_

 _She stepped back to reveal a blood stain growing around her abdomen. He looked down and saw he was holding the bloody knife in his hand._

Harvey gasped as he sat straight up in bed. The dream he had felt so real. It took a few minutes for his pulse to calm down. This wasn't the first dream he had about Rebecca. They were a nightly occurrence ever since he broke up with her.

Dream Rebecca was right about something. He did take every fear she had about their relationship and turned against her with his lies about not wanting to be with her. It wasn't fair to her.

Normally he lived his life without regrets. But he regretted breaking up with her, and he especially regretted the way he did it. It was cruel, probably the cruelest moment of his life. After replaying it in his mind over and over again, he could almost pinpoint the exact moment he broke her heart.

He had asked Donna a few times how she was doing, but Donna refused to talk about her. He figured by now Rebecca had told Donna everything that happened because Donna was giving him an attitude. But he deserved it so he didn't say anything about it.

He originally thought that he would be ok after a week or so. But it had been two weeks since he broke up with her and he wasn't at the top of his game anymore. He was having to rely on Mike and Donna to catch things at work that he normally would have caught sooner. He wasn't sleeping well. He didn't feel happy anymore, or even content. Things weren't getting better. They were actually getting worse and he didn't know what to do anymore.

He got up out of bed and headed to the shower, determined to get the image of Rebecca from his dream out of his mind.

* * *

"We have a problem." Donna said as she came into his office later that day.

"What is it?" He sighed. His life seemed to be full of problems. While normally he thrived on that, he didn't have the energy or the motivation to deal with it right now.

"Fowler Cosmetics has put you in review." She announced, handing him a letter.

"Dammit." He sighed again. "I'll go talk to them and do damage control."

"Harvey, take Mike with you." Donna suggested before leaving the office.

"Why?" He asked.

"Because…" Donna trailed off.

"Donna, do you have something to say?"

"You haven't exactly been at the top of your game lately. It's probably why Fowler Cosmetics is putting you in review to begin with. It wouldn't hurt to take Mike with you. Maybe he can put a stop to the bleeding." She reasoned.

"Fine." He sighed. There wasn't any way for him to argue with her logic because she was right.

* * *

Mike had cautioned him against doing this, but he couldn't help it. Ever since he found out that Xavier had been planting seeds of distrust and doubt with Fowler Cosmetics, leading to them putting him in review all he could see was red. Xavier had no right to be trying to poach his clients again and it needed to stop. He roamed the halls of the law firm until he found the office he wanted to enter.

"What the hell do you think you are doing with Fowler Cosmetics?" His voice boomed.

"Harvey." Xavier laughed. "It's good to see you again."

"Cut the crap. Why are you going after my client?" He asked.

"It seemed like fun?" Xavier smirked.

"You tried to steal Rebecca from me and you have been trying to steal my clients for months now." He chuckled. "You must really want to be me."

"I don't want to be you. I just want what you have." Xavier explained. "Or in this case what you had. I guess kissing Rebecca did what I hoped and caused you two to break up. I estimate it won't be long until I can swoop in like I plan on doing with Fowler Cosmetics and all your other clients."

"You son of a bitch!" He couldn't control his temper anymore and punched Xavier in the face. He was going to punch the man again when he heard her.

"Harvey stop!" Came a voice from behind him.

He turned to see Rebecca standing in the doorway. She was carrying a couple of files but came into the office. She looked incredible, though a little tired. Briefly he wondered if she was also having trouble sleeping. But that wasn't something that he had any right to wonder about anymore.

"What the hell is going on in here?" She demanded.

"He was assaulting me." Xavier claimed, touching his jaw. "You're my witness for when I press charges against him. I'm going to enjoy making him pay for this."

He watched as she looked at Xavier and then at him.

"No one is pressing any charges." She finally sighed, looking back at Xavier. "And if you file anything with the police I won't be your witness. In fact, I'll say you provoked him."

"You can't lie for him." Xavier pointed out.

"Are you telling me that you didn't provoke him?" She raised her eyebrow.

He looked at Xavier. "Go ahead and file charges if you want. I'm a good enough lawyer that I can get out of any charges you bring on no matter how many witnesses you have."

"We'll see about that." Xavier scoffed.

"That's enough!" Rebecca yelled. "Harvey, I think you should go."

"Yeah, I should." He agreed with that. "Xavier, stay away from my clients or else."

He left the office and headed back to the elevator, painfully aware that Rebecca was following him. He pushed the down button and refused to look over at her now that she was standing next to him.

"I don't need you to lie for me with him." He said. "He's a nobody."

"He could press charges against you because you attacked him though." She pointed out. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"He started this by going after my clients. If he does press charges, I'll handle it…without your help."

"You know what? Fuck you Harvey." She scoffed. "I was just trying to be nice, but I really don't know why I even bothered."

He watched her stalk off angrily and sighed. She was just trying to be nice. He had an opportunity and squandered He was an idiot.

* * *

Two days later Rebecca sat down at her desk and noticed a thick, manila envelope. She pressed the button for Adrienne to come into the office.

"What's up, boss lady?" Adrienne asked.

"What is this?" She asked, holding up the envelope. There was no return address on it.

"I don't know." Adrienne shrugged. "It came for you by messenger first thing this morning while you were in court. I didn't open it because it said confidential."

"Thanks." She waited until Adrienne was out of her office before opening up the envelope. She pulled out the papers, shocked by what was on the front. She flipped through all of the pages, amazed by what she saw. They were the original police reports for her mother's accident that chronicled her father's involvement.

There were also two signed affidavits from the police officers involved in the cover up. The affidavits detailed everything that her father asked them to cover up. This was her smoking gun to get justice for her mother.

There was only one person who could have sent this. Harvey. But why? Aside from the brief moment she saw him last week in Xavier's office, she hadn't had any contact with him.

She unlocked the bottom drawer of her desk and placed the envelope in it. She would deal with this later. After locking the drawer, her cell phone rang. She picked it up. "Hello?...Yes. Thank you for getting back to me so quickly…I am incredibly interested in the job…"

* * *

That night she took a deep breath as she got off the elevator and walked towards Harvey's office. She wasn't surprised to see Donna still there, although Donna seemed surprised to see her.

"Hey." Donna greeted.

"Hey." She gave her friend a small smile.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is he busy?" She asked, ignoring Donna's question.

"What do you think?" Donna chuckled, looking into his office and seeing him type on his computer. "I'm leaving for the night. Go on in and good luck."

"Thanks." She took another deep breath before entering his office. If he was surprised to see her, he didn't let it show.

"What do you want?" He asked gruffly as she stood in front of his desk.

"What the hell is your problem?" She berated him.

"Excuse me?" He asked, looking up at her.

"You act like a complete bastard to me and then you send me this?" She held up the manila envelope. "Why? What kind of game are you playing?"

"It's not a game." He protested.

"Then why give me this?"

"I had it and thought you would want it." He explained. "Do you want me to take it back?"

"Of course not." She told him. "Look, all I came over here to say was thank you and you were right."

He couldn't help but chuckle. "You're welcome and what was I right about this time?"

"I was delusional." She admitted. "I actually thought you had the capability to be an adult and have an adult relationship with communication and respect. But you can't because you let things from your childhood affect your adulthood. You're stuck repeating the same destructive behaviors over and over again."

"What the hell are you talking about?" He leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"You let something that happened over twenty years ago affect every single relationship you have and every single decision you make. You torpedo any chance of happiness that comes your way and you keep yourself isolated. To be honest, you probably hired Mike knowing he was a fraud just so that one day that decision could explode in your face."

"You don't get to…"

"Get to what?" She asked angrily, going over to the side of his desk and leaning against it. "I don't get to tell you what I think about you? I mean, because you certainly got your chance to tell me exactly what you thought about me. Isn't it only fair I get to do the same?"

"Ok." He conceded. "You've made your point."

She chuckled. "Actually I was just getting started. I could write a whole book about your issues."

"Can you please leave now?" He asked. "I do have a lot of work to do, and the whole point of sending that to you was so that I didn't have to see or think about you anymore."

His words hurt. At this point she wasn't sure if he was being honest or if he just wanted to hurt her because she was striking back at him. "Fine. I just have to say one more thing before I go." She leaned in close. "One of these days you are going to wake up and find yourself alone and you will hate it. I just hope for your sake you figure out a way to be happy before it's too late." Without saying anything else she left.

He watched her leave his office. What she didn't know was that he had already woken up finding himself alone and hating it.

It took Vanessa a couple of months to compile everything he sent her in that packet. It was a roadmap that would help her get her father arrested for what he did. He set the wheels in motion shortly after he failed to get David to take the deal he offered, choosing this as his plan B. His original plan was to surprise her with it one night after a nice dinner at her favorite restaurant. But then he broke up with her and realized she deserved to have it anyway.

Maybe now she could get some closure and get justice for her mother.

He didn't expect her to come over like this. Seeing her again was a double-edged sword. Now that she was out of his office, he got up and headed over to the window to get a drink. He could still smell her perfume as it lingered in his office. It taunted him, acting like a ghost.

He had Donna come over and take most of Rebecca's things to her about a week after he broke up with her. Seeing her clothes in his closet and some of the other items she left behind in his penthouse only made him miss her more.

He was both glad and angry that Donna forgot to take Rebecca's body wash out of his shower. Sometimes he would pick it up and try to throw it away, only to find himself unable to do it. So instead he would open the bottle and take a small sniff just to try and feel like she was there with him. It taunted him too. He knew it wasn't healthy. He knew it was pathetic. But he missed her.

He didn't feel like he was himself anymore since she was out of his life. It was like she took all of the joy and happiness out of him when she left. He knew that he loved her. That was evident to him now. But knowing and being able to say it were two different things. If he said it, there was no going back.

He had to fight the urge to run after her and kiss her. He couldn't go and beg her to come back to him. It wouldn't be fair because he still wasn't ready to admit he loved her. She deserved better than that. Besides, if tonight was any indication, she was pissed. Though he had to admit she had good reason to be upset with him. So he poured himself a drink and downed it in one gulp.

The feelings would fade over time. They had to.


	26. Chapter 26

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Six

"So how are you really doing?" Donna asked her as they had lunch at their normal spot.

"I'm fine." She shrugged, poking her salad with her fork.

"Rebecca…"

"What do you want me to say?" She chuckled.

"How about you stop with bullshit and start with the truth?" Donna chuckled.

"I'm getting through it the best I can." She sighed. Right after he broke up with her, she believed every word he said about not caring about her. She started thinking that maybe there was something wrong with her because she couldn't get him to care about her. But after he sent her the packet of information that she could use against her father, she realized she was right the first time.

He did care about her. He had to in order go to such great lengths to do something that he knew would make her happy. He knew it haunted her that her father was getting away with murder because she couldn't do anything about it. So he fixed it for her. And that proved to her that he truly did care.

This whole break up was all about his own issues and there was nothing she could do about it. She couldn't force him to push past his issues if he didn't want to. The only thing she could do was move on with her life. "It's stupid, but I miss him."

"It's not stupid to miss someone you love." Donna pointed out.

"It is when they treated you like crap." She argued.

"Look, Harvey just…"

"Donna, I understand the why behind the behavior. But it doesn't make it hurt any less, and it doesn't keep me from being angry with him."

"That's understandable. You're not the only one who's angry."

She looked at her friend. "What do you mean?"

Donna sighed. "I haven't exactly been very nice to him since he broke up with you."

"Why?"

"Because he is being an ass." Donna explained. "And he deserves to know that he is being an ass."

"I really don't want my issues with him to interfere with your friendship with him."

"I'm still his friend and he knows that. But he has to also learn that actions have consequences."

She was quiet for a moment as she ate. Then she washed down her food with some water. "So how is he doing?" She tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible. It was the first time she had asked Donna about him.

"He…well he isn't doing that great to be honest." Donna admitted.

"How so?"

"I don't think he is sleeping very well. He is distracted. Mike and I have to double check his work now, which has never happened before. He is a bit of a mess."

While she wasn't glad he was a mess, she could take a tiny bit of satisfaction in the knowledge that he wasn't doing well without her.

"You are definitely winning the break up." Donna chuckled.

"It's not a contest." She laughed.

"No it isn't, because you are dominating it." Donna pointed out. "You know he asks about you pretty much every day."

"And what do you say about me?"

"I don't tell him anything."

"Why not?" She didn't understand. If Donna was willing to tell her about how Harvey was doing, then why wouldn't she do the same for him?

"Because it's not nice to kick a dog when he's down." Donna answered.

Rebecca sighed. "Have we now entered the part of the conversation where you tell me I should go talk to him again?"

"No." Donna shook her head. "I've been saying that for three weeks now and you haven't listened to me yet. So I'm done doing that. I'll respect your decision to let him go, even though I think it is a big mistake."

"For the record, I don't want to let him go." She explained. "Even after everything I still want to be with him. But I'm not going to chase after him. I shouldn't have to convince him to let himself love me. He either will or he won't. And he chose not to. So like you said, he needs to see that actions have consequences."

"So that part you listen to!" Donna rolled her eyes. "How are things going with Xavier?"

She scoffed. "I've been avoiding him as much as possible." She thought back to the conversation she had with him after Harvey punched him in the office.

" _What did you say to Harvey to get him to punch you?" She asked, coming into Xavier's office._

" _Nothing really." Xavier replied._

 _She glared at him. "Seriously? Harvey just walked right in and without any prodding decided to punch you? I find that hard to believe."_

" _He's unstable. Why did you side with him? I'm your boss. You should be backing me up, not your ex-boyfriend."_

" _That's what I need to talk to you about. Harvey is a topic that is completely off-limits with me. I don't want you to bring him up and I don't want to engage in any conversation about him from now on. Do you understand?"_

" _It's smart of you to cut him from your life." Xavier told her._

 _She ignored that comment and sighed. "So from now on you won't even mention his name to me, right?"_

" _If that's what you want." He agreed._

"So how is Xavier doing with that?" Donna asked.

"For the most part he is sticking to the agreement." She explained, a little hesitant about what she was planning on saying next. "I am thinking of finding a new firm."

"Really?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I don't love the firm I'm at, and with all of the drama surrounding Xavier I just feel like I should leave and start over somewhere else."

"Have you called a headhunter?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

"Any good leads?"

"A couple." She nodded, noticing that Donna was staring at her.

"You aren't wanting to stay here, are you?"

"I'm just keeping my options open." She explained. She knew there was no way she would be able to keep Donna from intuiting that she wanted to run away. Her only hope was that Donna would leave it alone right now.

"I don't want to see you leave." Donna told her.

"I know." She nodded. "But nothing has been finalized yet. I'm just exploring what's out there."

"Just don't go too far out there."

She couldn't make that promise so she simply smiled at her friend.

* * *

The next day, Rebecca was texting on her phone as she was leaving the courthouse. She rounded a corner and ran into someone, sending her phone falling to the ground.

"I'm sorry…" She trailed off once she saw who she ran into. "Hey Mike."

"Rebecca." He smiled.

She watched as he picked up her phone for her. "Thank you."

"You know that texting and walking can be dangerous, right?" He chuckled.

"I do now." She laughed. "How are you doing?"

"I'm good." He nodded.

"And Rachel?" She asked. "How is she? I should call and check on her."

"She is doing well. She's in her second trimester now. We weren't going to find out the sex of the baby but the ultrasound tech last week messed up and so now we know we're having a girl."

"Congratulations!" She gave him a hug. "That's wonderful news."

"Thanks." Mike smiled as she pulled out of the hug. "We're both excited. But how are you doing?"

"I'm good." She nodded, trying not to look around. If Mike was here, there was a good chance Harvey was somewhere nearby too. And as much as she wanted to catch a glimpse of him, she also wanted to get out of there before he saw her.

"So he would kill me if he knew I was telling you this, but he really misses you."

"Mike…I don't know what you want me to say to that."

"Just keep it in mind." He told her.

She saw that Harvey was approaching them and found that she couldn't take her eyes off of him. Donna was right. He looked exhausted. She was winning the breakup war. He was staring at her as he approached. It was an intense gaze that made her feel like he was trying to burn a hole through her.

"Mike, we have court in five minutes. We should get going." Harvey said, still staring at her and not looking at his associate.

"Yeah, and I should get going too." She said, finally taking her eyes off of Harvey. She looked over at Mike. "It was nice to see you again."

"You too." Mike nodded.

* * *

Harvey watched Rebecca walk away and sighed. She looked amazing. It was almost like their breakup hadn't affected her at all. That wasn't fair. He was over here miserable and she seemingly wasn't.

"What was that?" Mike asked, getting his attention back.

"What?" He asked, looking at Mike.

"You couldn't even say hello to her?"

"She didn't want me to say hello to her." Harvey replied, continuing on his way to the courtroom.

"Oh, you are such an idiot." Mike chuckled.

"You have no idea." Harvey whispered to himself.


	27. Chapter 27

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Warning: This chapter contains some violence...

Without hesitating, Rebecca picked up her cell phone from the floor and dialed the number she knew by heart. It took four rings for the call to go to voicemail. She ended it before she had to leave a message and instead just called back again. It took three rings this time for him to answer and each ring felt like an eternity as she waited to see if he would actually pick up. He had to.

"What is it Rebecca?"

She could hear the frustration in Harvey's voice and remembered the time not so long ago when he would greet her happily. "I need you to come to my office right now."

"It's late and I've had a long day." He said in a gruff voice.

"Please Harvey?" She pleaded softly, trying her best not to break down over the phone. She didn't want to cry over the phone to him. "You have to know I wouldn't have called you if it wasn't important."

There was silence for a few moments and she moved the phone for a moment to look at it just to make sure he hadn't hung up.

"Rebecca, what's wrong?" He asked softly.

"I'm in trouble. I think…" She paused because the words she was about to say were stuck in her throat. She tried not to vomit because she never imagined hearing herself say this next sentence. "I think I just killed Xavier."

"Don't do anything. I'll be right there." He said without missing a beat and then he hung up.

She sank to the ground, leaning up against the cabinets behind her desk for support. While taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm down she reminded herself that if anyone would know how to handle this it would be Harvey. He may not want to care about her anymore, but like it or not he had to be a part of this.

* * *

When Harvey got to Rebecca's office less than ten minutes later, he was shocked at what he found. The place was a mess. It looked like the contents of her desk had been thrown to the floor, chairs were on their side and the body of Xavier Bastin was laying in the middle of the remains of her glass coffee table with a dark red stain pooled around him.

"Rebecca?" He called out softly.

"Back here." She called back just as softly.

He walked around the desk and saw something that he was certain would haunt him for the rest of his life. Rebecca was sitting against her filing cabinet. He could see too many bruises to count forming on her arms and legs. Her clothes were torn. Her hair was a mess. But what got him the most was her face. She had a split lip, a cut on her forehead and what looked like a black eye forming around her left eye.

"Oh my God…" He moved to touch her and pull her closer to him so he could never let go, but she scurried away before he was able to get too close.

"Don't touch me." She whimpered. "Please. Just don't. It's bad enough you have to see me like this."

"Ok." He stopped moving and put his hands down. If she didn't want to be touched then he wouldn't touch her. She obviously needed to be in control of that so he would let her. "What happened?" He realized as soon as the words left his mouth that it was a stupid question.

"I'm in trouble, Harvey." She whispered, starting to cry. "I'm sorry. I know you said you didn't want to hear from me again. I just…I didn't know who else to call. This is such a mess."

He could see that she was barely holding it together. As much as he wanted to hold her and tell her everything would be ok, that he was glad she called him, and that he hadn't really meant it when he said those things he knew it would only make things worse right now. It wasn't the right time for that.

He had to help with controlling this situation.

"You did the right thing by calling me." He told her. "Now you need to call 911 and tell them you have been attacked. Tell them you aren't sure if your attacker is dead or alive."

"Look at him!" She commanded, pointing to the other side of the room where the body was. "I can already tell you he is dead."

"But they don't need to know that until they come here." He informed her. He picked up her phone and held it out to her.

She nodded, slowly taking the phone and calling 911. While she did that, he got out his own phone and called Mike.

"Harvey…I'm sleeping or at least trying to. This better be good."

He walked over to the other side of the office and spoke quietly so she wouldn't hear him. "Rebecca was attacked by Xavier in her office and now he is dead."

"Ok." Mike said. "Now I understand why you called me."

"I need you to meet us at the emergency room."

"You're with her now?"

"Yeah. She called me. I need to make sure she gets through this." He explained.

"Is she ok?"

He glanced over at her. "Physically I think she will be fine. Emotionally…well that's an entirely different story. She is about the same size as Rachel. Can you bring her a change of clothes?"

"Absolutely. I'll be there soon."

Harvey put his phone back in his pocket and walked over to her, being sure to give her enough space. "I hate to ask this right now, but it is going to come up. Did he…?" He found he wasn't even able to ask this question without seething with anger for Xavier.

She shook her head slowly. "No. I managed to fight him off before he could get that far."

"Thank God for that at least." He whispered. "Don't worry. Everything is going to be ok."

"No, it isn't." She argued. "This is going to ruin my life."

"Trust me…I won't let that happen." He promised.

She looked over at him. "Trust me…It already has."

His heart broke for her as he saw the defeated look in her eyes. The sparkle she had before was gone and he realized he would give anything he could to see it come back.

* * *

About an hour later, Harvey was pacing outside Rebecca's hospital room. The doctors and police were in there right now, caring for her medical needs, taking photos and taking samples from underneath her fingernails as evidence. He had already given his statement to a cop. Mike was there with him but he was too lost in his own thoughts to talk to his friend.

Seeing her look so battered and defeated made him want to kill the bastard a second time. There was never any excuse for attacking a woman. As far as he was concerned, only monsters attacked women.

Xavier's behavior towards her had been a contributing reason for their break up and he couldn't help but wonder how long it had been since Xavier's interest in her had turned into obsession. Maybe if he hadn't panicked and ended their relationship this wouldn't have happened. He couldn't help but feel like this was partially his fault.

Either way, he was going to make sure he saw her through this. It was the least he could do.

He saw the doctor and the police exit her room and rushed over. "How is she?"

"Are you Harvey Specter?" The doctor asked.

"Yes." He nodded.

"She asked me to find you. We gave her stitches for the cut on her head. Aside from some nasty bruises, she will be fine." The doctor replied. "You can go in and see her now."

"Thank you." He rushed inside and saw her sitting on the edge of the hospital bed. She was staring at the floor.

* * *

"Hey." He greeted.

"I'm glad the doctor found you." She replied, not looking up from the floor.

"I was just right outside." He admitted. "I didn't want to go far in case you needed something."

"The cops are coming back in soon so I can give my statement. Do you want to be here for that or do you want to bring Mike in and have him listen instead of you?"

"How did you know Mike was here?"

She finally looked over at him. "I know you better than you think, or at least I like to think that I used to. Batman usually doesn't go far without Robin following."

"I'd like to stay and not just to hear your statement to the cops." Harvey told her.

"Miss Monroe, I'm Lt. Sheffield and this is Lt. Shoemaker. We have some questions regarding what happened. Is now a good time?"

She nodded her head and saw them point to Harvey.

"Can we perhaps talk in private?"

"You can talk in front of him."

"Alright." Lt. Sheffield replied. "Why don't you walk me through what happened?"

She took a deep breath before starting.

"I was working late, trying to get a brief done for a case. Xavier came in and closed my door. I tried to politely get him to leave so I could get back to work but he didn't want to leave. He said it was time to talk about why he really hired me. He said he hired me because he thought we would be a good fit together romantically."

"I tried to tell him that I didn't think of him that way and I only saw him as a boss. That's when he got upset. He started yelling that he worked really hard to convince the other partners to hire me and he stuck his neck out on the line for me. He said the least I could do was give him a chance."

"What happened next?" Lt. Shoemaker spoke up.

"I told him that I wasn't interested in him like that and I didn't want to give him a chance. I tried to say it as gently as I could. But he got even madder and pushed everything off of my desk. I realized I didn't want to be there anymore and I got up to leave but he yelled at me not to move. I waited until he was on one side of my desk and started to run around the other side to get out of the office but he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me up against him."

"He grabbed my other arm and started shaking me. Kept saying things like I owed him because he got me that job and I just needed to let him show me how great we would be together. He said I just had to let it happen. I told him no. I told him no several times but he just didn't want to hear it."

It was taking everything she had not to completely fall apart right now and she wasn't looking at Harvey on purpose. She was afraid of what she would see on his face when he looked at her now.

"I fought back and he ripped my shirt and my skirt. I kicked him in the crotch and got to where the chairs were. That's when he grabbed a hold of my legs and squeezed as tight as he could to make me fall to the ground. We wrestled as I fought against him. I didn't want…I couldn't let him…I knew what he wanted to do to me and I…"

She paused for a moment. "I think it was during that time that he punched me in the face a couple of times. I don't remember how many times though. I managed to throw some punches back to him too. I knew I was running out of time so I worked to free my hands and I could only free up one hand so I used my thumb and shoved it into his eye. He moved enough that I was able to crawl away from him and managed to stand up."

"But the next thing I knew he was right there behind me again and had his arm around my waist. I elbowed him in the gut and then shoved him so I could get away. That's when he fell into the glass coffee table."

"Are you aware that Mr. Bastin is now dead?" Lt. Sheffield asked.

She nodded.

"Ok. I think we have everything we need for now. You are free to go as soon as the hospital releases you. Just don't leave the state." Lt. Sheffield advised. "It's just standard procedure."

She watched as the cops left without another word. Now she was left alone in the room with Harvey. She wasn't sure how to look at him now. He was quiet during her statement. Just as she was about to be brave and look over, the nurse came into her room.

"I have your discharge papers." She smiled kindly, handing them to her with a pen. "If you have any pain, I recommend taking some ibuprofen. The stitches are the dissolvable kind and they should dissolve within 7-10 days. If you have any problems with them, you can call your regular doctor or come back to see us."

"Thank you."

The room was silent again until the nurse left.

"I had Mike bring you some of Rachel's clothes so that you didn't have to wear the clothes the hospital would give you." Harvey told her.

"Thank you." That was a very considerate thing for him to do and it meant a lot to her. The clothes the hospital gave her after the police took hers as evidence looked way too large for her.

"I'll go out to the hall and get them so you can get changed and we can go home." Harvey didn't wait for her to say anything before leaving the room. A few moments later he was back and held out a bag for her.

She looked at him as she took the bag and was surprised to see kindness on his face. She figured he would have a look of pity or disgust after the story he just heard. But there was just kindness and no judgement. She couldn't help but think how that look could change once she told him the whole story and how she just lied to the police about her statement.

"I'll let you get changed in private." He told her, giving her a small smile before turning around.


	28. Chapter 28

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Once he was in the hallway he stood against the wall and gently banged his head against it a few times.

"You ok there, boss man?" Mike asked.

"No. I'm not." He admitted with a sigh.

"This really has you rattled in a way I've never seen before."

"Of course I'm rattled though! It's Rebecca, Mike! She was almost raped. She was viciously attacked, and if the man wasn't dead already I would kill him myself with my bare hands then resuscitate him so I could kill him again." Harvey admitted angrily. "You don't go around doing that kind of thing to the woman I…" He stopped short of what he was going to say.

He was going to say to the women I love. It was the truth. He loved her and if he wanted to be honest with himself he had loved her for a while. If he wanted to be completely honest it was the reason he chose to pick fights with her and ultimately used anything he could to make the breakup her fault.

It was also the reason he had been feeling so lost since he broke up with her. The dreams every night about her never stopped. She infiltrated his thoughts at least fifty times a day. She was still the first thing he thought about in the morning and the last he thought about before he closed his eyes every night.

He had officially become the pathetic guy who was heartbroken over the loss of a woman. And the worst part was that he did it to himself by breaking up with her.

"I know." Mike spoke up. "I would do the same thing if someone hurt Rachel like that."

"Goddamn it Mike." Harvey sighed, calming down. "This shouldn't have happened."

"No." Mike agreed. "But it did and you'll take care of it like you always do. She knows you will take care of it. That's why you were her first call."

"I was terrible to her when we broke up." He hated to admit it. He hated being vulnerable right now and he hated that he was opening up to Mike of all people. "I said a lot of vicious things I didn't mean to her. I made her believe things that were untrue just so she would leave."

"I know. And yet when she was in trouble you were still her first call. That says a lot."

He looked over at his friend and nodded. "Yeah. I guess it does."

"You couldn't have known that Xavier would become that obsessed with her or turn violent."

"I still shouldn't have broken up with her." Harvey sighed. "This is all my fault."

* * *

Harvey opened the door to the car and let Rebecca get in first before going to the other side. She hadn't said a word since Mike left the hospital five minutes before them. He had texted Ray to drop them off at his place instead of Rebecca's so when the car started to move, that is where they headed.

Looking over, he saw that she was staring absentmindedly out the window and wondered what was going through her head. She had been extremely quiet. While he understood why, he couldn't help but want to know what she was thinking.

A couple of minutes into the drive, Rebecca spoke up. Her voice was so quiet he wasn't sure he would be able to understand her.

"This isn't the way to my place."

"I thought you could come back to mine with me for the night." He reasoned.

"No." She spoke up, her voice louder. "Take me back to my place right now."

"You need rest and some peace and quiet."

"Harvey, no." She looked over at him. "I'm not going back to your place…"

"You shouldn't be alone right now. You can take my bedroom and I'll be out on the couch in the living room." He assured her. The last thing he wanted to do was make her think he was trying to take advantage of her. "I'll give you are much space as you need but this way you will have someone close by if you need anything."

"It's not a good idea."

"You called me to take care of this…to take care of you." He pointed out. "Let me do that."

"Well seeing as how we are now right in front of your building, I guess I have no choice in the matter." She sighed, getting out of the car.

The ride up the elevator was silent. He wanted to say a lot of things to her, but now wasn't the right time. He unlocked the door and let her go in first.

"Can I get you anything?" He offered.

"No." She shook her head as she stood in the middle of the room. "Do you mind if I take a shower?"

"Be my guest." He nodded.

She went straight to the bathroom without another word to him, mostly because she wasn't sure what else to say to him. He was being too nice to her…too supportive…and she couldn't figure out why.

Harvey told her he didn't love her and wanted her out of his life. While she believed he only said those things because he was afraid of his feelings for her, he still said it. Now suddenly he was trying to take care of her because of this situation. It had to be pity or guilt.

She didn't know how to process that, so she just added it to the long list that she couldn't properly process in her mind…like the fact that she was responsible for killing a man.

Shaking that from her mind, she reached into the shower and turned the water on to warm. Something caught her eye though as she noticed that he had kept her shampoo and body wash in his shower. It had been almost two months since they broke up. The question remained as to why he kept her stuff there.

Donna had been the one to bring over her clothes and other personal items she left here about a week after they broke up. She thought he had thrown her toiletries away as soon as he broke up with her because that wasn't something Donna brought over. Maybe he was just too busy though.

Her head felt like it was going to explode so she carefully stripped out of her clothes and got into the shower. It was a crazy thought but she actually thought that maybe she could scrub away the feelings of disgust and shame she felt from everything that happened tonight.

She knew that Xavier was interested in her in more than a professional way. Some of the emails he sent her were inappropriate and then there were the inappropriate comments he made to her face on a regular basis. He even lied to his father about dating her. Then there was the unwanted kiss that ended up pushing Harvey to break up with her. But he never once thought that Xavier would try anything like this. Though now of course she saw those things were warning signs.

While washing up, she saw the bruises forming on her arms and legs. Memories of how they came to be on her body assaulted her mind and she closed her eyes to try and get rid of them. She hurried out of the shower, toweling off and getting back into the clothes Rachel had lent her.

She walked around the room, not surprised that everything was in exactly the same place as the last time she was in here. Harvey was a creature of habit after all.

Glancing at the nightstand next to the bed she saw a glass of hot chocolate, with extra marshmallows. He used to make fun of her for putting so many into the mug, but here it was waiting for her.

He was confusing her. Having Mike bring her a change of clothes, bringing her back here and leaving her favorite hot chocolate were things she never would have expected from him. She figured he was being this kind out of pity for what she had been through.

It was beyond awkward.

Ever since he broke up with her, she dreamed about him coming to her place and saying he made a mistake. He would say he really did care about her and wanted her back in his life. Depending on the day, she would dream about either forgiving him or slamming the door in his face. But it never happened outside of her dreams. So she decided to move on with her life the best she could.

She picked up the mug and took a long drink, letting the warm liquid coat her throat. Sadly, not even this drink could make her feel better.

Remembering Harvey's strict rule about not eating or drinking in bed, she went to sit in the chair by the window. She wasn't an idiot. While the DA wouldn't file charges against her given the circumstances she outlined in her statement, there was no way she could escape the wrath of her firm. She assumed they had been notified by now, and if they hadn't they would be soon.

She was pretty sure they would suspend her and then fire her. She would be considered a liability to any other firms she tried to go to around here because she was going to be considered poison.

It was a good thing she had already looked into firms in England and had a job offer there. Maybe a fresh start would be what she needed to try and get over Harvey and get past the events of tonight. She was lost in her own thoughts and didn't realize she had drank the entire mug until she tried to take a sip and but came up empty.

She sighed and sat the mug down on the table. Exhaustion had taken over her and she couldn't keep her eyes open for much longer. As weird as it was crawling back into Harvey's bed again, she did. Pulling the covers over her head, she was enveloped by his scent. It somehow calmed the storm in her mind and let her fall asleep quickly.

* * *

Harvey laid on the couch, trying to sleep. He was too worried about Rebecca. He watched her give her statement to the cops earlier and he could see she was barely holding it together. He hoped that bringing her back here and making sure she knew she was in a safe place would help tonight. He left her favorite drink by the bed while she was in the shower because she always said that calmed her down.

He shouldn't have broken up with her after seeing Xavier try to kiss her. At the time though he panicked. The day before she had told him she loved him. It spooked him because she had somehow become more important to him than anything else in his life. He used that incident to evict her from his life because he didn't think he was ready for her to mean that much to him. Now he wondered if this would have even happened if he hadn't been such a coward.

It didn't matter that he wasn't in a relationship with her anymore. He still considered her the most important person in his life. But he left her unprotected and look what happened to her.

He turned on the couch, trying to get comfortable when he heard her scream. Immediately jumping up, he was in the bedroom within seconds to see her sitting straight up in the bed. She had her head in her hands and was crying.

He went and sat on the bed. "Nightmare?"

"Yeah." She nodded.

Without a moment of hesitation he embraced her in a tight hug. He wasn't sure if she would want to hug him after everything she had been through, but he had been wanting to hug her ever since he walked into her office and couldn't hold back any longer. "It was just a dream. He can't hurt you anymore."

He was glad when he felt her hug him back. She cried for a few more minutes before stopping. "I know it doesn't feel like it right now, but you're the most amazing and strongest woman I know. You can handle anything."

She pulled away slightly so she could look at his face. "I'm tired of being strong and I don't feel strong anymore. Right now I feel weak."

He pushed a strand of her hair away from her face. "Everything's going to be ok."

"I wish I could believe you." She whispered.

"Then believe me." He whispered back, looking into her eyes.

"Harvey, there's something I need to tell you…something I didn't tell the police earlier. And you aren't going to like hearing it, but you need to."

"You can tell me anything."

"I didn't mean to kill Xavier, but at that moment I wanted to really badly."

"That's understandable. He attacked you and tried to force himself on you. It's only natural to be angry and want to get back at him."

"It wasn't just that." She whispered.

"Did something else happen?" He asked.

She nodded and he immediately thought the worst.

"Whatever it is, you can tell me."

"The story I gave the police…I didn't tell them the whole truth. There were a couple of things I left out and there's one thing in particular that changes everything. It makes it look like I killed him on purpose and it's the reason I called you. Xavier knew about Mike."


	29. Chapter 29

Synchronicity

Chapter Twenty-Nine

"Xavier knew about Mike." Rebecca told him.

"Shit." That wasn't what he thought she was going to say. He thought she was going to say Xavier had actually raped her. While he was glad that hadn't been the case, this was still not good news either.

He truly thought that they had all of their bases covered and that no one would find out about Mike. He couldn't believe that Xavier of all people found out about it. He dreaded what she would tell him but he had to know. "Can you tell me what really happened?"

"Ok." She nodded.

* * *

 _Rebecca was typing on her laptop to try and finish the brief she needed for the next day when she heard the door of her office click shut. She looked up, surprised that there was someone else still in the building. She saw it was Xavier and sighed. It was late and she just wanted to finish this brief and go home._

" _You seem to be working hard." He smiled._

" _I am kind of busy Xavier. Can whatever you need maybe wait until tomorrow?"_

" _It can't wait. The time is now." He came over to the side of her desk and sat down._

 _She realized he wasn't going away any time soon so she decided to play his little game. "Ok. I'll bite. What is now the time for?"_

" _You still care about Harvey, right?"_

" _Ok. I'm going to need you to leave if you're going to talk about Harvey." She told him. That was one subject she didn't want to discuss, especially with her boss. "You know that is one topic we aren't discussing."_

" _So I'm right. You do still care about him." He smirked. "That will make this even more fun when I destroy him."_

" _Destroy him?" She scoffed. "No offense, but he is Harvey Specter. Just how do you plan on doing that?"_

" _It's so easy." Xavier laughed. "He set himself up to be destroyed and I think you know exactly what I'm talking about."_

" _No, actually I don't know what you're talking about." She watched his face and wondered if he had somehow found out about Mike. That was the only thing she was aware of that would destroy Harvey. That was his Achilles' Heel._

" _You see, I've never liked Harvey. He's a smug, arrogant bastard who never gets what's coming to him. After he punched me I started thinking about the best way to pay him back. Then it hit me. Pressing charges for assault won't do anything to him. He could easily get out of that. And he doesn't have any weaknesses, except the people he surrounds himself with. So I started digging. I checked into his associate, Mike Ross and I struck pure gold."_

 _Xavier smiled. "You see, everything about Mike Ross looks perfect on paper. He has a clean record of law school and taking the bar. But it's too clean. There's no previous work history, no clerkships or recommendations from professors. So I dug in even further. It wasn't too hard to figure out that Mike Ross didn't graduate from law school and therefore isn't a real lawyer. That means Harvey is going to go to prison for fraud. He knowingly hired a fraud because there is no way he didn't know about this beforehand. But I'm fairly certain you already knew about it too. Didn't you, Rebecca?"_

" _I don't know what you're talking about. Mike Ross is an excellent lawyer and Harvey wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't a lawyer." She told him, trying to make sure her face didn't give it away. As long as Xavier didn't have proof, everything would be fine. She could tell Harvey about it and he could figure out a way to fix it. The only problem with that was he didn't want to hear from her again. So she would have to go through Donna._

 _Xavier took one look at her and then slapped her face hard. "Stop lying to me!"_

" _What the hell?" She yelled, cupping the side of her face that he hit._

" _You knew about Mike Ross." He accused. "And since you still care about Harvey so much, you're going to help me get revenge on him."_

" _I'm not helping you get shit on Harvey." She told him, earning her another slap in the face. She pulled her hand back to punch him in the face but he grabbed her fist and held on to it tightly._

" _Do you think my revenge is just threatening him about Mike Ross?" Xavier laughed. "Because that wouldn't be satisfying. I'm going to systematically break Harvey down until he feels so defeated that he decides to confess about everything he's ever done wrong in his entire life. His judgement day is coming and you will have a front row seat."_

 _She was almost afraid to ask about his plan to destroy Harvey. This was a side of Xavier she had never seen before and was growing more afraid for her own safety._

 _He let go of her fist and started to pet the side of her face that he had slapped. "Mike Ross isn't the only one that Harvey cares about. He also cares about that secretary of his. I'm still working on finding the dirt on her that will put her in the ground, but I've got nothing but time. She is part of phase two, along with Jessica Pearson. You and Mike Ross are phase one."_

" _I shouldn't even be a part of this plan." She told him, pulling her face away from his grasp. "Harvey wants nothing to do with me. We broke up weeks ago."_

 _He scoffed. "You just don't see it, do you? The man cares about you the most so you are part of phase one whether you like it or not. You're probably the most important part of phase one because it will go a long way to destroy him when he finds out that you and I are together."_

 _It was her turn to scoff. "Well that will never happen so keep dreaming."_

" _Oh it isn't going to be a dream." He told her, touching her shoulder. "Because it will either happen or I'll just go to the DA right now. Harvey and Mike will be arrested by the end of the week. Then they will go to prison for fraud."_

" _You don't even have any proof that any of your claims are true." She was starting to get worried about what her next move could be to get out of this._

" _I don't need proof." He boasted. "I have the truth. I just have to tell the authorities where to look and they will find the proof. There isn't anyone who can remember seeing him on the Harvard campus. He didn't have a Boston address during the time he was supposedly there. His work history consists of dead end jobs that he couldn't possibly have done while also attending Harvard. The list of inconsistencies in his story just go on and on."_

 _She was quiet for a moment._

" _So here's what's going to happen." He told her, putting his hand under her chin to make her look at him. "You're going to be at my beck and call. Anytime I call, you will bring that sexy body over and you'll let me do whatever I want to do to you. Anytime we are out in public, you will act like an adoring girlfriend. And lastly, we are going to 'accidentally' run into Harvey often so he can see just how happy we are together."_

" _You're dreaming if you think I'm ever going to agree to that." She scoffed. There was no way she would ever agree to sleeping with Xavier._

 _His eyes narrowed and she could tell he was getting angry. Perhaps that wasn't the best thing to say to him right now._

" _You will do what I want." He commanded in a low tone. "Otherwise, your precious Harvey will go to jail and lose everything."_

" _I'm not going to agree to basically be your own personal sex slave just because you have a theory about something illegal you think Harvey was a part of." She defiantly told him._

" _Ok." He chuckled. "I get it. You thought this was a request."_

 _Without warning, he punched her in the eye. The force knocked her out of her chair. She instinctively curled up and kept her eyes on him._

" _That wasn't a request. You will do what I want."_

 _She scoffed as she got back up. It was a good thing that one Sunday four months ago Harvey took her to his gym and showed her how to box. It looked like it was going to come in handy tonight. "You're dreaming if you think violence is going to make me say yes to this."_

" _Very well then." He told her. "I didn't want it to resort to this but it's your choice. We could have done this the easy way. But the hard way works too."_

"The rest of the story I gave the police was basically true. We did fight, he did try to rape me. But I lied about the details of the fight and the reasons behind it. I obviously couldn't tell them the whole story without implicating you or Mike or the others so I fudged some details, like when he punched me and stuff like that."

"Shit." He whispered.

"I thought that if the police believed it was a simple assault, they wouldn't look too deeply and wouldn't find out about Mike. But now I've given a false statement to the police and I…" She trailed off when she noticed that Harvey looked deep in thought. He had that look on his face he only had when he was trying to figure something out and she knew he wasn't paying attention to her anymore.

A few minutes later he looked at her and she realized she could talk to him again.

"For what it's worth, I don't think he had any real proof about Mike. I think it was just a theory he had. But I can't be sure about it."

"We need to make sure that he doesn't have any real proof and that he didn't keep a record of it." Harvey said, absentmindedly getting up and going into the living room.

She watched him leave and then got out of bed to follow. He was pacing around the living room and making her nervous. "What are you doing?"

"I'm formulating a plan to take care of this." He explained as he continued to pace. "We have to protect Mike."

"Yeah." She sighed. "Of course you have to protect him." Without saying another word she turned to go back to bed. She didn't know what she expected from Harvey when she told him the whole story about Xavier's attack. But it did anger her slightly that his priority now was just to protect Mike and he was ignoring her.

Never mind the fact that she had lied to the police with her statement. Never mind the fact that she had neutralized Xavier and prevented him from going through on his plan to destroy Harvey's life at a great cost to herself. Never mind the fact that she was dealing with the knowledge that she killed a man. Never mind the fact that she was freaking out and that her entire life was going to change now.

Of course his priority was Mike. She thought maybe Harvey still had feelings for her. But she could have been mistaken.


	30. Chapter 30

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty

Harvey got the coffee brewing the next morning. He made a mental list of everything that needed to be done in order to keep Mike out of trouble last night. To be honest, focusing on this was easier than focusing on what was going on with Rebecca and he was almost glad for the distraction.

He didn't know what to do with the fact that she had to defend herself against Xavier because he was trying to come after him. He felt terrible that her association with him played a part in Xavier's actions last night. It only reinforced his earlier belief that this was his fault.

He saw Rebecca come out of the bedroom and got out a mug for her. "Good morning."

"Hey." She greeted as she got up to the counter.

Since the coffee was done now he poured her a cup first and pushed it closer to her.

"Thanks." She gave him a small smile and taking a sip. "I have to admit that I missed your coffee."

He smirked.

"You still won't tell me what you put in it, will you?"

"Nope." He chuckled. "It's a trade secret."

She took another drink. "I should get going." Her phone rang and she sighed. Looking at the caller id made her frown. "It's Florrick. I should take this."

He watched as she went to take the call on the balcony and took a sip of his coffee. Although he couldn't hear what was being said, he could see her expression turn to one of surprise and then anger.

"Well they just fired me." She said as soon as she opened the balcony door. She scoffed as she walked over to him.

"How can they do that?" He asked.

"The by-laws said anyone in a physical altercation with another partner would be suspended for two weeks pending a full investigation. But since the physical altercation led to the death of a name partner, they are claiming that they have the right to terminate my employment right now and keep my buy-in." She explained.

"Let me call Louis and I'll have him…"

"No." She shook her head. "I don't want you to call Louis. I don't want to fight this."

"Why the hell not?" He practically yelled.

"Because it's my life and I said no!" She yelled back. "That should be a good enough reason."

"You can't let them get away with this." He said in a softer tone. "You don't deserve to be fired."

"Don't I?" She challenged. "I'm not innocent. I killed a man, Harvey. I did what they are saying I did."

"But it was self-defense." He pointed.

"It doesn't matter to them and it doesn't matter to me. He's still dead either way you look at it and it's my fault." She sighed, picking up her purse.

"It does too matter." He argued. "Stop being stubborn about this and fight it."

She turned and glared at him. "Why don't you just focus on saving your precious puppy from getting put down and let me live my life the way I want?"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means you aren't the one who has to deal with any of the fallout from what I did. You can still sleep at night, safe with the knowledge that you haven't taken a life. Once you take care of this Mike situation, you can go back to living your life the same way you did before last night. But I can't. I'm going to have to deal with the fallout for the rest of my life."

He wasn't sure if this anger being directed towards him was how she really felt or if she was just lashing out at him because she was scared and hurt. Either way, he knew better than to engage in this argument anymore.

She scoffed. "Maybe it was a mistake to call you in the first place. You know, I told you what Xavier said about Mike and you helped me get through last night. Let's just call it even and go back to living separate lives apart from each other again." With that she turned around and stormed out of his penthouse.

He sighed after she left. That didn't go the way he wanted it to. In fact, it went worse than he wanted.

He would focus on that later. Right now he had some phone calls to make. He picked up his phone and pressed a few buttons. "Lola, Harvey Specter…I know…listen I need a favor…Yes, I realize this would make three we owe you…

* * *

Rebecca was sitting in her apartment, trying to figure out what to do now when her phone rang. Glancing at the caller id, she cringed. It was her father.

She had been developing a plan for the best way to expose her father's crimes now that she had the proof before all of this happened. But it looked like that was going to have to wait. While she still was going to expose him, she needed a chance to get over what happened before adding more drama to her life. She took a deep breath before answering.

"Hello."

"What the hell did you do?" Her father yelled.

"Thanks for the concern dad." She said in a calm voice. "By the way, I'm fine after being attacked."

"How do you think this makes me look to have a daughter involved in the death of her boss?" He asked.

"I don't know." She answered honestly. "But I think you should be more concerned about the fact that your daughter was attacked and almost raped last night. Most fathers would want to focus on that."

"You can obviously take care of yourself so I don't see why I need to be worried about you." He scoffed. "You killed a man."

"I accidentally caused his death trying to get away from him." She corrected him. "There is a difference."

"There isn't a difference according to you." He pointed out.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means we're not so different after all. I accidentally caused your mother's death and you accidentally caused your boss' death. Looks like accidental murder runs in our family."

"No." She argued. "We're nothing alike. You went after mom because you didn't want her to leave. I was just trying to…" She stopped herself because she was about to say something about Mike's secret.

"You know what?" She had finally had enough of him. "From now on, don't call me. I won't answer anymore." Then she hung up on him.

* * *

Harvey looked at the group he had summoned to his office. Jessica, Louis, Donna, Rachel and Mike were all scattered throughout the office. "As you all probably are aware by now, Rebecca was attacked in her office last night by her boss, Xavier Bastin. During the struggle, she pushed him and he fell into a glass coffee table. He died from those injuries."

"How is she doing?" Donna asked.

"She's doing as well as can be expected." He answered. "But I didn't call you all in here for that reason alone. I called you all in here because what you all don't know is the reason she was attacked."

He paused. "Xavier was sold on an idea that he wanted to get revenge on me. He was planning on accomplishing this by trying to blackmail her into in relationship with him."

"How was he planning on blackmailing her?" Louis asked. "What kind of leverage did he have on her?"

"The only leverage he had on her was the secret about Mike and the fact that I knew about it when I hired him." Harvey replied, purposely not looking over at his friend.

"Shit." Mike sighed.

"What did he have, proof wise?" Jessica asked.

"Rebecca said she wasn't sure he had any proof." He explained. "It seemed like just accusations and inconsistencies that didn't make sense. Still, I'm having Lola hack into Xavier's computers to see if there is anything we need to be worried about."

"I gotta get out of here." Mike said, abruptly standing up and walking out.

Harvey watched Mike leave and worried about him. But he needed to focus on the most pressing problem, and that was making sure that Xavier didn't have any proof about Mike not being a lawyer.

"I'm taking care of this." He swore to them. "It's not going to be an issue. But I thought you should know what's happening."

Jessica stood up first. "Just get it done."

Louis was next to stand up. "Tell Rebecca I'm sorry this happened to her." He then followed Jessica out.

He looked at Rachel and Donna, who were exchanging glances with each other. "Do you both have something to say?"

"How is she really doing?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah." Donna nodded. "She's been through a lot."

"I didn't want to bring it up earlier in front of everyone, but she also got fired this morning." He admitted.

"Shit." Donna sighed. "Someone needs to go check on her."

"I would give her a little bit." He cautioned. "She is pretty mad at me right now."

"What did you do?" Rachel asked.

"All I did was tell her she needed to fight being fired. It's wrongful termination. She should have been suspended pending an investigation." He defended himself. "She could have very easily defended herself to the partners and then not gotten fired."

"I don't think that is the only reason she is upset." Donna shook her head.

"Then why else?" Harvey sighed.

"If you don't know by now, we aren't telling you." Rachel laughed, leading Donna out of the room.

* * *

Rebecca was cleaning her kitchen. When her stress levels got too high, sometimes she resorted to cleaning in order to get out the extra energy. That's what she was doing when there was a knock on her door. She contemplated not answering but ultimately decided to open the door. She was surprised to see Mike there. "Hey."

"Hey." He greeted. "Can I come in?"

"It depends." She narrowed her eyes. "Did Harvey send you?"

"No." He shook his head. "He has no clue I'm here. I'm not sure he would be too thrilled about it."

"Ok." She nodded. "You can come in then." She moved out of the way and let him inside.

"How are you doing?" Mike asked.

"I'm alive." She answered honestly. "That's the only positive I can find right now."

"Harvey told us about what happened and why it happened."

"How nice of him to spread it around like that." She sighed.

"He only told us because he knows we won't say anything." Mike reassured her. "So…you must hate me right now."

She sighed, taking a good look at him. He was actually contrite about the part he played in what happened. It was refreshing since Harvey just acted like it wasn't partially his fault too. She smiled at Mike.

"I hate a lot of things right now. I hate the situation. I hate the fact that I knew about your secret in the first place. I hate the fact that Xavier is dead because of my actions. But I don't hate you."

"You can hate me if you want." He offered. "I'd understand."

"Nah." She shook her head. "It's ok."

"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked.

"Unless you have a time machine, I don't think so." She joked.

"Damn." He smiled. "I left my time machine at the office."

"Maybe next time." She played along with the joke.

"Seriously though, Rebecca, I am truly sorry that you got caught up in this. I never in my wildest dreams thought that this was a possibility…"

"It's ok." She assured him. While she had been kind of mad at him, the fact that he took the time to come see her and apologize meant a lot to her. Besides, it wasn't his fault. He didn't make Xavier go off the deep end. "You couldn't have known this would happen."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"You didn't let Xavier blow my whole life apart." Mike explained. "You could have."

"I told you I would keep your secret." She reminded him. "And I meant it."

"Well now I owe you one."

"No you don't." She shook her head.

"Yeah, I really do." He insisted. "If there is ever anything I can do for you, you'll let me know?"

"Sure." She nodded.

"Ok. I better get back before Harvey realizes I'm gone or where I've gone." He headed to the door.

* * *

The next time Rebecca opened the door that night she saw Donna.

"I brought wine." Donna held up two bottles.

"You are a true hero!" She clapped, letting her friend inside.

"I figured you could use a drink…or a few." Donna explained, going over and sitting on the couch.

"You know me too well." She laughed, grabbing two glasses and sitting on the other side of the couch. Donna had already gotten one bottle open and poured as soon as the glasses got close.

"I would ask you how you are doing, but I know you have got be all over the place right now."

"Yeah." She nodded, drinking some wine.

"I'm so sorry that this has happened to you. I was trying to think about how I would feel if I was in your position and it was not a fun thing to imagine."

"It's just surreal. I pushed him and now he is dead because of what I did." She explained, taking a big sip of wine. "I don't know how to reconcile that. I mean, he wasn't exactly innocent. He was attacking me, trying to blackmail me and wanted to put both Harvey and Mike in prison. But still…he was still a person and he is dead because I pushed him. I keep replaying that moment over in my head."

"It will get easier." Donna reminded her. "This just shouldn't have spiraled out like this."

"You know Mike came by earlier today."

"Is that where he went when he left the meeting?" Donna laughed. "I thought so but he wouldn't say where he had been."

"He came by to apologize. He actually thought I hated him now." She saw the unasked question on Donna's mind. "I don't hate him."

"What about Harvey?"

She stared at the glass. "What about him?"

"Do you hate him?" Donna asked.

"I don't hate him." She sighed. "I can't say that I am particularly fond of him right now though. Last night he was so thoughtful and supportive. I thought we shared this special moment together. I thought that maybe I was actually right and he really did care about me. I thought…Well it doesn't matter what I thought because it was a dumb thought. Really. It was. Because as soon as I told him about Mike, it was like I ceased to exist."

"Look, I know I should stay out of this thing going on between you two…" Donna said after a moment. "But…"

"Donna please." She sighed heavily. "Look, I still love Harvey and I always will. But there is a part of me that is really pissed off at him right now. I know it may not be fair to him, but he after he told me about Mike he promised it would never come back on me. Knowing the secret would never hurt me. Those were his words. And look where I am now. I've killed a man, gotten attacked, fired and I don't even have Harvey in my life anymore. What the hell am I even left with now?"

"You have friends who care about you and will help you get through this." Donna reached over and grabbed Rebecca's hand. "And you may not have Harvey in your life the way you want, but he will be in your life to help make things right."

"How the hell is he going to do that?" She scoffed.

"He could start by trying to get your job back."

"Did he tell you about that?" She asked.

"He mentioned how they fired you unfairly."

"I'm not fighting that though." She shook her head. "I don't want to work there anymore so what's the point in fighting it?"

"It would send a message that you aren't going to give up without a fight." Donna explained. "Just promise you will think about it."

"Ok." She sighed. "I'll think about it." She would think about fighting her old firm, but she wasn't sure it would matter. After Harvey broke up with her, she searched for a new job and found an opening at a law firm based in London. She jumped through all of the hoops necessary to practice law in England once she got the job.

Ironically, she was only a couple of days away from giving Xavier her two weeks' notice. But it didn't matter now. A fresh start would be the best thing for her, assuming her new boss would still let her come to work for him after finding out about everything that had happened the last couple of days.


	31. Chapter 31

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-One

Rebecca heard the knock on the door and slowly walked over to open it. She saw Rachel there, smiling and holding up a canvas bag.

"I thought that since I can't drink like Donna, I would come over and maybe we could sit around and eat a bunch of chocolate. What do you say?"

She laughed as she let Rachel inside. "I can't say no to chocolate."

"That's what I was banking on." Rachel laughed.

She waited until they were both sitting on the couch before opening the bag. "Did you buy the entire chocolate aisle?"

"I couldn't figure out what sounded the best so I figured why not get them all." Rachel replied.

She laughed. "Fair enough. But you know, you and Donna don't have to babysit me."

Donna had been coming over every night for the past three days and checking on her…usually bringing wine or other alcohol with her. It was sweet but unnecessary. She was doing fine-ish.

"We're not trying to babysit you." Rachel assured her. "But you are our friend and you've had something bad happen to you. You can't blame us for wanting to make sure you are ok."

"I guess not." She conceded. "And I do appreciate it."

"So how are you doing?" Rachel asked as she called dibs on the white chocolate bar and started opening it.

"To be honest, I'm getting tired of answering that question."

"Ok." Rachel nodded. "Then how about we turn on Netflix and watch a movie?"

"Sounds like a good plan."

* * *

The next night, Rebecca heard the familiar knock on the door and wondered if it would be Donna or Rachel this time. She opened the door to find neither there. Instead it was Harvey.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"Can I come in?"

"Maybe if you tell me what you are doing here."

"I found out about Donna and Rachel switching off every night coming to see you. And I asked if I could get in on that deal tonight. So here I am."

She looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." He nodded. "So can I come in?"

"You know, when Donna or Rachel come over they bring me things." She pointed out. "You're empty-handed."

"Do you want me to leave, get you something and come back?" He offered.

"No." She shook her head. Because she was curious about why he was here, she stood off to the side and let him in. She watched as he stood in the middle of her place, seemingly unsure of what to do now.

"So why don't you tell me the real reason you're here?"

"I already told you. I want to check on you."

"You could have done that over the phone." She pointed out.

"Do you want me to leave?" He asked.

"I don't know anymore." She sighed.

"I'm sorry about the other morning." He said after she was quiet for a few minutes. "I shouldn't have gotten in your face about fighting for your job. You're right. It is your life and I don't get a say in how you live it."

"Thank you." She appreciated the apology, even if she did think he had other things he needed to apologize for too. One apology was at least a start. "Do you want a beer?"

"Sure." He followed her into the kitchen and took the beer she offered when she got it out from the refrigerator.

She took the top off of hers and started drinking. Then she went back out to the living room and sat down on the couch. She watched as he did the same, sitting on the opposite side of the couch.

"I was glad to find out that everything with Mike turned out ok." She said. "Donna told me everything."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I think we were all happy that Xavier didn't have any proof laying around about his claims."

The next few minutes were spent in awkward silence.

"So…your stitches look like they are healing nicely."

"They are." She nodded. "The bruises are fading too, though not as fast as I'd prefer."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm just great." She said sarcastically. "Couldn't be better."

"Rebecca…"

"What do you want from me, Harvey?" She sighed. His presence here tonight was confusing and she didn't understand why he came by. If he simply wanted to apologize he could have done it over the phone.

"I just wanted to…" He trailed off before starting his sentence over. "I am worried about you."

"You don't have to be." She told him. "I'm good."

"You don't look like you're good." He pointed off. "And nobody is fine only a few days after something like this."

He was right. She still couldn't sleep without nightmares, which gave her dark circles under her eyes. Thank God for makeup. The fact that she didn't have a job to go to everyday was frustrating. She wasn't the type of person who enjoyed doing nothing for long periods of time, but time was all she really had right now.

Her job in London was on hold until she heard back from her new prospective boss about whether he was still going to hire her after what happened.

"What do you want me to say?" She laughed. "I'm handling everything as well as I can."

"I'm sure you are." He told her. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She thought about it for a moment and realized he was pretty much the only person she could talk to about what was really bothering her at this particular moment. "Just tell me this…Am I like my father now?"

She watched his facial expression turn to surprise at her question.

"Why would you ever think that?" He questioned.

"He called the day after and said we're more alike than he thought. He said it must run in the family. And it just has me spooked. That's all."

"Rebecca, you are nothing like your father." He told her. "What he did was unforgivable because he did it to further his career. You didn't mean to kill Xavier and you were just fighting back because he was attacking you. Those are two totally different situations."

"Then why can't I shake the feeling that I'm a monster?" She asked. "I pushed him and he's dead. Accident or not, self-defense or not, the end result is the same. He is dead. And I'm not even necessarily unhappy that he's dead. I'm just unhappy that my pushing him off of me caused his death."

He put his beer down, came over and took her hands in his. "Please don't ever call yourself a monster. Ok? Your father was just trying to play on your fears. You are not a monster. You did what you had to do to survive. That's totally different than what your father did. You can't listen to him and you certainly can't compare the situations."

"You sure you aren't just saying that to make me feel better?"

"No." He shook his head. "I'm saying it because it is the truth."


	32. Chapter 32

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Two

"Do you have that deposition I asked for earlier?" Harvey asked Donna as she came into his office.

"Here you go." She handed it to him. "So have you called her yet?"

"No." He sighed. Ever since he went over to her place a few nights ago, Donna had been hounding him to call her and check in on her again.

"Why not?"

"Because I don't know what to say to her anymore." He answered honestly. "My actions with Xavier put her right in the crosshairs of Xavier's vendetta. How can I ever apologize enough for it?

"Ok. This is why I need a raise." Donna sighed. "I invited her to lunch today but I told her she needed to meet me here. I'm going to sneak away for a moment and I expect you to take advantage of my absence and talk to her."

He chuckled. "Thank you Donna."

* * *

"Are you ready to go?" Rebecca asked Donna as she approached her desk. She purposefully kept her back to Harvey's office because she didn't want to talk to him right now.

When he came by the other night she was feeling vulnerable and that's why she asked him about if he thought she was like her father. They shared a nice moment together, but she wasn't going to be fooled by a nice moment. She needed more than nice moments from him.

Besides, she wasn't sure it mattered anymore.

Honestly she didn't even really want to step foot in this building. But Donna had asked her to lunch so she made her way down here to meet her.

She figured this lunch would be a good chance to tell Donna about her new job and her move to London. She got the confirmation this morning that her job offer was still valid. Her new boss didn't care about the fact that she killed a man in self-defense. So in a couple of weeks she would be leaving New York for good.

"Actually I need to go copy one thing really quickly and then I'll be ready." Donna said, getting up from her chair with a file folder. "I'll be right back."

"Ok." She sighed. It wouldn't surprise her if Donna was off doing a bullshit task so that it would give Harvey a chance to come out here. She expected the door to his office to open any moment. A few seconds later, she could tell that he was behind her and she realized she was right.

"Hello."

She turned around after hearing his silky voice. He was standing a few feet away from her with his hands in his pockets. "Hi."

"How are you doing?"

"I'm ok." She lied.

"You look tired." He observed.

"That's a very charming thing to say to a woman." She scoffed.

"You know what I mean." He defended himself. "You know, could we…maybe…sometime get coffee…"

"Sorry about that." Donna apologized as she approached them. "Are you ready for lunch?"

"Yes." She turned to her friend. "I'm so ready. Bye Harvey."

Without looking back she followed Donna to the elevators.

"Are you sure you don't want to go back and finish that conversation with Harvey?" Donna asked.

"Nope. I'm good." She said, keeping her gaze focused in front of her.

Once they got to the elevator bank, they saw two police officers and shared a look of concern.

"Are you Rebecca Monroe?" One of the cops asked.

"Yes." She nodded.

"Please turn around." He said, bringing out handcuffs. "You are under arrest for the murder of Xavier Bastin."

"What? Murder?" Donna scoffed.

"Donna, go get Harvey." She demanded, watching the red head run off.

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you."

She knew that they were reading her the Miranda rights, but in this moment it sounded muffled like she was underwater. The handcuffs were cold and tight on her wrists. This wasn't supposed to happen. It was self-defense, not murder. They must have stopped talking because they were leading her towards the elevators.

She stood in the elevator just in time to see Harvey as the doors closed. She looked him in the eyes and saw he was worried. That was never a good sign.

* * *

"Dammit!" Harvey yelled, punching the down button of the elevator.

"Harvey calm down." Donna warned.

"I can't calm down." He told her. "They just arrested her for murder. What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know, but following her to the police station this angry isn't going to help her and you know it." Donna explained.

The elevator opened and they both got in.

He sighed. "I know."

"She needs you to be calm and get her out of this."

"You're right." He calmed himself down and thought about this. It didn't make any sense for them to charge her with murder based on the evidence…unless they created evidence or they found evidence Xavier had about Mike. Either way this wasn't a good sign. "Call Mike and have him meet me there."

* * *

"So can we start talking now?" Detective Alvarez asked.

"I'd like to wait until my lawyer is here." Rebecca answered, trying to appear as calm as possible. She had already been booked and processed into the system. By her estimation she had been sitting in this room with the detective for at least an hour now.

She knew Harvey had to be here and so this stalling was just a technique to see if she would go back and agree to talk before she saw Harvey. The joke was on them though because she wasn't going to talk until Harvey came in that door.

The door opened and a woman handed Det. Alvarez a piece of paper. "Well looks like your attorney is here. Apparently there was some kind of a mix-up and he was sent to the wrong precinct."

"It's funny how that happens sometimes." She replied calmly.

"He'll be right in. I'll give you a moment and then we can get started." Det. Alvarez replied, picking up his folder and leaving.

She bounced her leg up and a down and few times to get the anxiety out. When the door opened and Harvey strolled in she felt better immediately.

"How are you doing?" He asked, rushing over and sitting next to her.

"I've definitely been better." She sighed. "What the hell is going on? Why am I being charged with murder?"

"I don't know yet." He admitted. "Did you talk to them?"

"No. I waited for you." She explained.

"Good." He smiled.

"So am I answering their questions or not answering their questions?" She just needed to know what Harvey's strategy was because he always had one.

"Answer them for now. I'll stop you if I need to." He told her.

"Ok." She would trust in him. A few moments later the door opened again.

"Good. I see your attorney has arrived. Now we can get to talking." Det. Alvarez sat down. "So, Ms. Monroe, were you ever in a relationship with Xavier Bastin?"

"No." She answered honestly.

"Did you ever tell someone you were in a relationship with Xavier Bastin?"

"No." She replied.

"You never told his father, Allister Bastin that the two of you were dating?"

"No." She answered. This was awkward to talk about in front of Harvey since she never told him about this. "He had told his father that lie. When I worked on Allister's divorce he asked me how my relationship with Xavier was going and I just never corrected him."

"Why not?" Det. Alvarez asked.

"Because it didn't seem like something I should have to correct his father about. Later that day I asked Xavier about it and he said he would take care of it." Rebecca answered.

"And how did he take care of it?"

"I don't know." She shook her head. "I didn't ask for details."

"Why do you think he would lie about something like that?"

"He told me it was because his father always wanted to see him settle down. He was tired of hearing the same speech every time his father asked if he was seeing someone and he had to answer no." She explained. "So he told a lie and said I was his girlfriend to get his father off of his back for once."

"So you never dated him?"

"No."

"Did you ever kiss him?"

"Not by choice." She shook her head and then looked over at Harvey before back at the Det. "He tried to kiss me one night and I pushed him away."

"Kind of like the last time you pushed him?" Det. Alvarez asked. "Only I guess that time you didn't kill him."

"That's enough!" Harvey interjected. "What exactly are you getting at with this questioning?"

"I'm merely trying to corroborate the new evidence we have about Ms. Monroe and Mr. Bastin being in a relationship."

"There is no evidence though because we were never in a relationship." Rebecca protested.

"I've got emails and a witness came forward to claim you and Xavier were dating." Det. Alvarez boasted. "See my theory is you were seeing both Harvey and your boss at the same time. You and Harvey broke up but then you wanted to get back together and orchestrated this attack scenario so you could look innocent and drag him back into your life. Am I close?"

"Not at all." Rebecca scoffed.

"We'll see." Det. Alvarez replied, getting up.

"Harvey, you know that isn't right." She asked when they were alone again. "Right?"

"Of course." He nodded.

She looked at his face and frowned. "Oh my God. You don't believe me."

"It's not that I don't believe you. It's just that you haven't exactly been forthcoming with information and I'm trying to figure this all out." He pointed out. "Why didn't you tell me that Xavier told his father that you two were involved?"

"Because I didn't think it mattered." She sighed. "It was a lie that Xavier told his father. I didn't do anything wrong. Trust me, I berated Xavier about it. At the time I didn't think it was worth mentioning to you because he told me he would take care of it."

"You still should have told me."

"What would you have done about it? Gone over there and punched him?" She asked. "Given your family history, I didn't think it was something I should bring up."

"That's where you are wrong." He corrected her. "It's because of my family history that you should have brought it up. It's just like when he kissed you. You should have told me then too."

"Ok. Fine." She gave up. "I'm sorry. I screwed up both times and should have told you. But what do you want from me? Harvey…I can't change the past. Do you want me to get another lawyer?"

"No." He shook his head. "That's not necessary."

"Good." She told him. "Because I was kind of hoping you could go see about bail."

"Mike is already handling that as we speak. He should be in front of a judge by now." Harvey told her.

"How much do you think it will be?"

"It doesn't matter." Harvey shook his head. "I gave Mike a blank cashier's check."

"No. Harvey, I can't…"

"It's already done." He told her.

"I'll pay you back." She promised.

"You don't have to and if you try I will give you the money back."

She didn't want him paying her bail but it seemed she had no choice.

* * *

It was late that evening when she finally got released. She went back to the office with Harvey, watching as he walked in front of her the whole time and stormed into his office. She turned to look at Donna.

"Are you ok?" Donna asked.

"Not really." She shook her head. "They say they have some kind of evidence and a witness that can say I was in a relationship with Xavier, which is so far from the truth it's not even funny. But Harvey…"

"Don't worry. It's all going to be ok."

"They think I killed Xavier in order to get back together with Harvey." She explained.

"Harvey's going to take care of this." Donna told her.

"I need to go talk to him." She gave her friend a small smile.

"I'll go so you two can have privacy." Donna offered. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thanks." She waited until Donna was down the hallway before going into Harvey's office. He was already standing by the window with a drink in his hand.

"I poured one for you." He told her.

"Thanks." She went over and picked up the glass, downing the whole thing in one large gulp.

"Is there anything else you haven't told me?" He asked. "I can't defend you properly if I don't know what I'm defending you about."

"Seriously?" She scoffed. "You don't believe me and you're buying into that bullshit theory that I was seeing Xavier?"

"I never said that I don't believe you." He told her, turning around. "I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. How do they have emails and a witness?"

"I don't know!" She yelled. "But whatever they have is fake because I was never involved with him in anything other than business. I thought you would believe me, but maybe I need to find a different lawyer for my arraignment tomorrow."

She started to walk out the door but stopped when he lightly grabbed her arm.

"I'm sorry. It rattled me." He said softly.

"Well join the club." She scoffed. "You don't think I'm rattled? They are charging me with murder, Harvey. I could go to prison for this."

"I'm not letting that happen." He promised.

"You may not be able to stop it."

"Now who doesn't believe in the other one?" He smirked.

"You can't charm your way out of this. It's a serious situation." She shook her head.

"I know…trust me, I know how serious this situation is."

"Look, it's late and I'm tired. I'm going home."

"And I have something to do." He said, following her to the elevator.

* * *

He stood next to his car, waiting for the other person to show up. He's been there fifteen minutes and knew that he wouldn't have to wait too much longer.

"Harvey." Cameron Dennis exclaimed. "It's been a while."

"Not long enough." Harvey told him.

"So what do I owe this surprise visit?"

"You know what." Harvey sighed. "Why are you going after Rebecca Monroe for a simple self-defense?"

"Because it stopped being a simple self-defense and started looking like a murder case."

"Bullshit." Harvey challenged. "You saw this as a way to get back at me."

"Contrary to your beliefs, the whole world doesn't revolve around you Harvey. It's time you learn that. And it's also time you learn that your little ex-girlfriend is going to jail for killing Xavier Bastin."

"She won't spend one day behind bars." He promised. "Your vendetta against me isn't going to send her to jail."

"No." He agreed. "You're right. That won't put in jail. But the fact that she killed her boss will send her to jail. And if you were in on it with her, then you'll find yourself in jail too. Goodnight Harvey."


	33. Chapter 33

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Three

"Are you wearing the same suit as yesterday?" Donna asked as she entered Harvey's office.

"Yeah. I stayed here last night working on the case." He admitted, looking up from his computer.

"I had a thought on the case…" Mike said, entered the office. He stopped when he saw Harvey. "Whoa. You look like shit."

"Leave him alone right now Mike." Donna cautioned.

"What's your idea?" Harvey asked.

"When her law firm found out they fired her less than 24 hours later."

"So?" Harvey asked.

"Their bylaws state any partner accused of a crime gets immediately suspended from the firm for two weeks. Then they get a hearing with the rest of the partners to plead their case before they are fired. But they didn't give her a hearing." Mike explained.

"Rebecca said they have different rules for a name partner when the person is killed." Donna offered.

"No. I got a copy of their by-laws and I checked. She still should have been suspended first." Mike shook his head. "My guess is they wanted to distance themselves from her and this case as quickly as possible."

"Because they knew the DA was going to arrest her?" Harvey asked.

"That's what I immediately thought." Mike said. "You said they have emails and a witness that claims she had a relationship with Xavier. I'd bet money that the emails were doctored from the firms' IT department."

"Why would they do that?" Donna asked.

"Revenge." Harvey sighed. "She killed one of their name partners."

"And who else would want to seek revenge on her, who also thought she was involved with Xavier?"

"His father, Allister." Harvey groaned. "Allister must have gone to the firm and gotten them on board with making an example of Rebecca and then he must have gone to Cameron because he knew Cameron has it out for me too."

"Well it's all fine and good to figure it out but what are you going to do to save Rebecca from a murder charge?" Donna asked.

"We're gonna figure out who the Goddamn so called witness is." Harvey explained. "But first we have Rebecca's arraignment."

"You may want to change into your spare suit and shave." Donna warned him.

"Yeah." He sighed.

* * *

Rebecca paced outside the courtroom while waiting for Harvey and Mike. She was slightly relieved when she saw Mike approach her. "Where's Harvey?"

"He had to get some coffee." Mike explained. "He will be here in a moment. How are you doing?"

"Oh I'm just great." She sighed. "I got a full 15 minutes of sleep last night."

"We're going to make sure that this goes away as quickly as possible." He promised.

"I appreciate that Mike and I know you and Harvey have worked miracles before, but forgive me for not being 100% convinced this is going to be one of those times." She saw Harvey approaching in his spare suit. "Did he stay in his office last night?"

"Yeah. How did you know that?" Mike laughed.

"Duh. That's his spare suit." She pointed out.

"What's so funny?" Harvey asked.

"Nothing." Mike shook his head.

"So don't worry." Harvey said. "Since this is a post-indictment arraignment all you will have to do is plead not guilty."

"I know." She nodded. "I just never thought I would be on this side of the table."

"It will be ok." Mike patted her shoulder.

"Thanks Mike."

"Let's go." Harvey said, entering the court room.

It wasn't long before she was sitting at the defendant table sandwiched between her two lawyers. Her heart was beating so fast it felt like it would burst.

"Court is in session. Case number 2523532-b32. The Commonwealth of New York vs Rebecca Monroe."

"Cameron Dennis for the Prosecution, your honor."

She looked over and saw the man who had been Harvey's old mentor and boss. Now he was the guy trying to put her in prison. She saw Harvey stand up.

"Harvey Spector for the defense, your honor."

"What are the charges, Mr. Dennis?"

"You're honor, we're going after Ms. Monroe for the first-degree murder of Xavier Bastin."

She cringed when she heard they were going after first degree murder. This was a nightmare she couldn't wake up from.

"And how does the defendant plead?" The judge questioned.

She stood up. "Not guilty, your honor."

"Let the record show the defendant has entered a plea of not guilty." The judge said. "Are there any pre-trial motions counsel wants to enter at this time?"

"I would like to submit a motion to move the trial date within 60 days." Harvey spoke up.

She looked over at Harvey and then at Mike. That wasn't something they had discussed and she wasn't sure it was something she wanted.

"Very well." The judge said. "Mr. Dennis, do you have any objections to that request?"

"No." He shook his head. "It's a pretty open and shut case. We can be ready in about a week."

"In that case, trial is set to start in two weeks to give the defense an extra week." The judge announced. "Court is adjourned."

She watched as Cameron Dennis approached their table. "Just so you know, I might be willing to let you plead down to a lesser charge in exchange for some jail time."

"Just so you know…" Harvey spoke up. "We aren't interested now and we will never be interested in any plea deal."

"You may want to wait until you hear the deal I'm offering first." He smiled. "I'll be in touch."

"No matter what, we're not taking a deal from him." Harvey said, looking over at her.

"We?" She scoffed. "Now there's a we? You know what, Harvey, screw you." She got up and left the courtroom.

* * *

"What was that about?" Harvey asked Mike as they watched her leave.

"It's a stressful time for her." Mike explained. "Cut her some slack."

"Keep on trying to find the witness they say they have." He instructed.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going after Rebecca." He said. It didn't take him long to catch up to her outside the courthouse. "Rebecca!" He called out, trying to keep her from getting into the cab she had hailed.

"Leave me alone Harvey." She warned, letting the cab go. "I really don't want to talk to you right now."

"Well I want to talk to you. What was that back there?" He asked.

"Oh I'm sorry. Did I hurt your feelings by saying screw you? If so, then let me do it again. Screw you, Harvey." She scoffed.

"Just what is your problem?"

"My problem? Seriously? It's my problem? Oh my God, I'm not doing this with you here." She told him.

"Fine." He sighed. "Where do you want to do this? Because we sure as hell need to get past whatever bullshit there is here so we can move forward. This…whatever this is, it isn't going to help with your case."

"Bullshit? You think this is bullshit?" She scoffed. "You're an asshole. That's what my problem is."

"Your place is closer." He said after a moment. "Let's go work this out. Ray is parked over this way."

He didn't wait to see if she was following him. The only time he turned around was when they got to the car. He opened the door for her before getting in on the other side. The ten minute car ride was completely silent. He looked over and saw that she was just staring out the window the whole time.

When they got to her building he had to hurry to catch up to her because she was walking so quickly. The elevator ride contained the same amount of silence as the car ride. The walk down the hallway to her door was the same.

She unlocked the door and let him go in first. As soon as she shut the door she started berating him. "If you think for one second that the things I am angry with you about are truly such bullshit then you're fired and I'm finding another lawyer for my case."

"Then why don't you tell me why you're angry all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden?" She scoffed. "I hate to break it to you Harvey, but I've been angry with you for a long time and it started when you broke up with me. You destroyed me when you broke up with me like that. And my anger just keeps building up higher and higher with every day that passes. I can't contain it anymore. But you know what really set me off today?"

"I'm sure you'll tell me." He sighed.

"You didn't tell me you wanted to move my trial up so fast. Is that a good idea? Are you even ready to go to trial so quickly? Do you have a defense ready? You've shut me completely out of your thought process because you don't deem me worthy enough of knowing and I'm not ok with that because this is my Goddamn life you're messing with here!" She yelled at the top of her lungs.

"And then to tell me that WE aren't taking any plea deals? Who is the WE in that sentence, Harvey? Because we aren't a WE. There's a you and a me but we are as far away from a WE as we could possibly be."

"I'm sorry." He could see now how that would anger her. "Honestly I didn't mean to leave you out." He took a good look at her. "What else?"

"Huh?"

He caught her off guard with that question. He could see it on her face "You always say you know me. Well I know you. You have something else you want to say. There's something else on your mind. So say it. Obviously we need to get everything out in the open and now is as good a time as any."

"Fine." She sighed. "I'm so pissed off with you for so many Goddamn reasons. A part of me feels like this whole situation is your fault because you promised me that knowing Mike's secret wouldn't hurt me. It wouldn't come back on me. Those were you exact words. And now look at me. I was fired, I was attacked, I killed a man and now I am about to go on trial for 1st degree murder when all I did was defend myself and try to keep your shitty little secret from coming out. I'd say I'm pretty hurt by it, wouldn't you? My life is in shambles all because I just had to fall in love with you. I told you someone would get hurt. I just never thought it would be me and I never thought it would be this bad."

He watched as she walked over to her window and crossed her arms around her chest. There was a part of him that wondered how long it would take for her to blow up at him about that. Honestly he thought she would have blown up at him sooner. He definitely deserved it. He was naïve to believe that telling her about Mike wouldn't impact her life at all. Now she was paying the price for his decisions.

And she was right. He did promise her that she wouldn't get hurt because of knowing about Mike. But she has been paying the ultimate price. If he could, he would give anything to trade places with her and let his own life get blown up. But he couldn't. The only thing he could do was work his ass off trying to fix the mess that he helped create.

"My life has been completely torpedoed because of this, first by Xaiver and now by your old boss." She said in a calmer voice. "And the thing that really hurts is that you don't even care."

"Of course I care!" He objected.

She turned back around to look at him. "Yeah, I find that hard to believe. You acted like I was just another annoying client to you today."

"I didn't know what to say to you."

"You use that excuse a lot, like it somehow excuses you from any wrongdoing. But it doesn't." She pointed out. "And you are welcome by the way."

"Welcome for what?" He asked.

"Xavier is dead. He can't expose Mike or you. Your precious little secret is still safe. So you're welcome."

He took a deep breath. "Rebecca…"

"Harvey, I don't actually expect you to thank me for it." She sighed.

"Ok. But you're right though…about a lot of things." He admitted. "Telling you about Mike put a bullseye on your back and I will never be able to tell you just how sorry I am that this happened to you. It shouldn't have happened. I hate that it's happened. And it is my fault because there are so many things I should have done differently. But the choices I made ended up hurting you the most and I'm sorry. I know that doesn't do much for you but it's the truth."

He paused for a moment. "And I didn't mean to ignore you or make you feel like just another client. I…I just didn't know what to say to you. Do you want to find another lawyer?" He asked quietly. She didn't seem happy with him and he needed her to be happy. "Do you want me to step down and let Mike take over?"

"No."

It was so soft he barely heard it so he walked closer to her. "Rebecca…" He reached out to her but she stepped away from him.

"I know it isn't fair to put it all on you. You aren't the one who pushed Xavier into the coffee table. I'm sorry. My emotions are all over the place."

"You don't need to apologize to me." He assured her. "Everything you just said is stuff I've been thinking about myself. I know I have my own part to play in this mess. There are so many things I wish I could do differently. But I can't."

"I know that feeling." She chuckled softly.

"I'm so sorry." He told her. "I want you to know and I need you to know I am truly sorry. If I thought for a nanosecond that anything like this could have happened because you knew about Mike, I wouldn't have told you."

"It's like I told Mike. You couldn't have known this would happen." She explained.

"Still…" He moved closer to her and this time she didn't move away. "This is my fault. And it's part of why I've been trying so hard to figure out how to get you out of this. I moved the trial up closer because I didn't want this to be hanging over your head for months on end. And I have been working on your defense. I was actually up all night last night working on it and I'll continue to work on it day and night until I get your charges dropped because there is no way in hell I'm letting you get convicted of this. But you are right. I shouldn't be shutting you out of it and I won't from now on."

He noticed she was quiet after his little speech and wondered what she was thinking now.

"What's the other part?" She asked softly.

"What?"

"The other part." She repeated. "You said that your guilt is part of why you're working so hard. What's the other part?"

He hesitated. Now wasn't the right time to be talking about this. But he could see from the look on her face that she wasn't going to let this go until he explained it.

"I still care about you." He said.

"Harvey…you said you didn't care about me. You were very clear and very vocal about that." She pointed out softly.

"I lied." He admitted. "I said a lot of things I didn't mean just to get you to leave that night. I destroyed you because I thought at the time it was better for you to move on than to be stuck to me because let's admit it…I'm emotionally handicapped sometimes. But it wasn't fair to you."

She stared at him for a moment. "So I was right."

He gave her a small smile. "Yeah. You were right." He let that sink in for a moment.

"Harvey…"

"I'm not sure this is the right time to be talking about this."

"No, you're right." She nodded. "It's not the right time."

"So let's just forget about what I just said for a moment and focus on what's most important. Ok? I promise I'm going to get you through this. You aren't going to jail and I'm not breaking my promise."

She was quiet for a few minutes. "I need to be a part of the defense strategy. This is my life that hangs in the balance. I'm not just a normal client. I need to know everything you are doing." She told him.

"As far as I'm concerned, you can move into my office and we can work on your defense together."

"Ok. Thank you. That's all I really wanted."


	34. Chapter 34

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Four

Harvey watched Mike come into his office.

"Did you get things settled with Rebecca?" Mike asked.

"For now, yeah." He nodded. "I think we got some things settled." He still couldn't believe he ended up blurting out that he still cared about her. This wasn't the right time to tell her something like that. They needed to be focused on her case. There would be plenty of time for that after he got the charges dismissed. Then he would work on showing how just how much he cared and how sorry he was for everything he had put her through.

"Good." Mike nodded.

"And from now on, Rebecca is going to be working on the case with us. We aren't keeping anything from her." He explained.

"Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

He saw the hesitation on Mike's face. "Why wouldn't it be a good idea?"

"It's her murder case." Mike pointed out. "If the situation was reversed, I would likely be overly-sensitive about the whole thing. I'm not sure I would be able to handle it. She might…"

"I am fully capable of handling this." Rebecca said from the doorway.

He watched as she crossed through the office and sat down in the chair across from his desk.

"I realize it is unconventional for the defendant to be working on their own defense, but given the circumstances this is how it needs to be. There is absolutely no way I can just sit at home and wonder what you two are doing to clear my name and keep me from going to prison. I'd go insane." She explained.

"An insanity plea actually might work. We should add that to the list of possible defense strategies." He joked. When she glared at him he simply winked at her. Then he focused his attention back at Mike.

"And I can't stay focused on keeping her out of prison if I have to worry about her lashing out at me all the time for keeping her in the dark about the process of her case. So it's a win-win."

Mike held up his hands in defeat. "Ok. I stand corrected. You two seem to have it all figured out."

"So what is the next step?" Rebecca asked.

"Cameron is supposed to be sending over all of the discovery today." Harvey explained. "So we're going to go over it with a fine tooth comb."

"It's actually here already." Mike interjected. "I have it in my office and I've been going over it all morning."

"Why wasn't that the first thing out of your mouth when you came in here?" Harvey scoffed.

"Don't bully him." Rebecca said, looking over at Harvey. "So what does the defense have?"

"They have a series of emails dating back almost five months between you and Xavier sent from your work accounts." Mike explained.

"That's harmless." She shook her head. "We sent emails back and forth all the time about work related issues."

"There are emails about work issues." Mike sighed. "But there are also many emails that get more personal in nature."

"But I didn't send any personal emails to Xavier." She protested.

"That doesn't change the fact that they have emails that are pretty damming to the case." Mike pointed out. "It makes it look like you were in a relationship with Xavier at the same time you were with Harvey."

"I don't know how the exist, but they are fake emails." She told them.

"The question remains, how do we prove that they were fabricated?" Harvey spoke up.

Everyone was quiet until Mike spoke up. "I suggest we go pay a visit to the firm's IT department."

"Ok." He stood up. "Let's go." Then he looked at Rebecca. "You do realize you have to stay behind for this part of things, right?"

"Of course. I'm not a complete moron." She smirked.

"Just checking." He chuckled as he left.

* * *

Rebecca was officially bored as she waited for Harvey and Mike to come back. She stood and looked out the window for a while, checked her phone and now was sitting on Harvey's couch going through his records. She knew by heart which ones he had at his place, but had never taken the time to go through the ones in his office. Briefly she wondered if he ever swapped them out or if he just had records to listen to at work and then ones to listen to at home. It looked like he had duplicates of some of them, so maybe he kept them divided.

In between looking at records, her mind kept going back to last night. The words 'I still care about you' echoed in her mind. He told her she was right about everything. While normally having him tell her she was right would make her ego inflated, this time it just confused her.

This was something she had wanted to hear ever since the night he broke up with her. It validated the fact that she was right to believe he was simply scared and lashed out accordingly. But after everything that had happened, she wasn't sure what to do about it.

She thought about talking to Donna about it, but she knew what Donna's response would be. She would just tell her to just go for it with Harvey.

As she was putting a Motown record back she saw Jessica enter the office and put a folder on Harvey's desk. She waited for the woman to turn around.

"Rebecca." Jessica greeted.

"Hello Jessica." She greeted, getting up off of the couch. "If you're looking for Harvey, he went with Mike to check out a possible lead on my case."

"And he left you here?" She guessed.

"Yeah." She nodded. "Is that a problem?"

"No." Jessica shook her head. "If Harvey trusts you enough to leave you alone in his office, then I have no problems with it either."

There was an awkward silence she wasn't sure how to fill. Fortunately Jessica fixed the situation.

"How are you doing?"

"I'll be better once I know Harvey has a clear plan to get my murder charges dropped." She answered honestly.

"Naturally." Jessica nodded. "But I was actually talking about how you were doing dealing with the actual events of that night."

She wasn't sure how specific to get with the woman. After all, she had only spoken with Jessica a handful of times. She decided to be honest with her. "I'm still having nightmares every night and I can't get the images out of my mind."

"It does take a while."

She looked at Jessica suspiciously. "How..."

"When I was a junior associate, I was assaulted one night after work." Jessica explained. "It took me at least a couple of months for the nightmares to fade. But they did fade. Now I know my experience wasn't the exact same as yours, but I'm certain that your nightmares will fade too."

"Thank you." She gave the woman a smile.

"When Harvey gets back, can you please make sure he signs the papers I put on his desk?"

"Of course." She nodded, watching Jessica leave.

* * *

"So what happened?" Rebecca asked as Mike and Harvey came back into the office. Harvey went straight to his desk, leaning back in the chair.

"I don't think the head of IT at your old firm knows anything about the emails." Mike explained.

"So we're back at square one?" She guessed.

"For now." Harvey told her. "But we just need to regroup."

She watched as the wheels turned in Harvey's head. He was on to something.

"Mike, let's look deeper into Allister. Let's see if we can find any kind of link between him and Florrick or James. I want to know everything about him."

"On it." He said, leaving the office.

She watched Mike leave the office and walked over to Harvey's desk, leaning against it. "Jessica left that top folder on your desk. She wanted you to sign whatever's in there."

"She came in here?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "I thought she was going to have an issue with me being in here alone but she didn't. She said if you trusted me here, then she did."

"Well then it's a good thing I do trust you here." He said, not looking at her. Instead he had opened the folder and was looking over the papers Jessica left for him.

"Harvey…" She wanted to ask him about what he said last night about still caring for her but was interrupted by Donna coming in with a couple of banker's boxes. "What are those?"

"These are the copies of the emails Cameron sent over this morning. I have two more out there to bring in." Donna replied, setting the boxes on the table.

"I thought since Mike has already read them, we should probably do the same." Harvey explained, scrawling his signature on the paper and putting it back in the folder. "Donna, can you please give that back to Jessica?"

"Of course." Donna took the folder and left the room.

"That's a lot of emails." She sighed.

"Yeah." He laughed. "We may be here a while."

* * *

"You really didn't have to give me a ride home or walk me to my door." She told him as they stood at her doorstep that night.

"It's late. I don't want anything to happen to you." He reasoned. They had stayed in his office all afternoon and evening reading the emails that were submitted into discovery. They had food delivered and continued to read the emails while they ate. He was right. It did take a while to get through them.

Many of the emails were purely work related, but then there were plenty of emails that were extremely personal. Emails that plainly suggested Rebecca and Xavier were in a relationship. It was difficult to read those emails, but he got through it because he knew that they were fake. There was no way she would have been seeing Xavier at the same time she was seeing him. He was trusting her.

"Well thank you." She smiled, unlocking her door. "Do you want to come in and have a drink before you go home?"

He wanted to, even though he wasn't sure it was a good idea. But as much as he wanted to try and be strong, he nodded yes and entered her place.

He watched as she put her purse down on the counter and then walked to the mini-bar to pour two drinks. She came back with both and held out the one that had more in it. He smiled, realizing she remembered that he always asked for the one that had more alcohol in it.

"Can I ask you a question?" She said after she took a sip.

"Of course." He nodded.

"I can't help but keep thinking back to what you said last night..."

He knew she was referring to when he told her that he still cared about her. "I'm not sure now is the right time…"

"Just tell me, did you mean it?" She interrupted. "I just…I know everything has gone to shit in so many different ways. I just…I guess I need to know for my own sanity which time you lied. So did you lie when you broke up with me or did you lie last night to make me feel better?"

He took a deep breath and downed the rest of his drink. Then he put the glass on the counter next to him. "I lied when I broke up with you. You were right when you told me that night that I was lashing out and panicking. I shouldn't have said those things to you because they hurt you and they weren't true. I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about a lot of things. It wasn't fair to you that I turned your fears against you like that. You didn't deserve it."

She was quiet for several moments and seemed focused on slowly sipping her drink. Then he saw her down the rest of her drink and put the empty glass on the counter next to his.

"Why did you decide to tell me you care about me now?" She asked.

"It's complicated." He sighed.

"It doesn't seem complicated to me." She told him. "Because it seems like you feel guilty and that's why you are saying it."

"I do feel guilty. You're in this mess because I set this in motion first by telling you about Mike. Then by breaking up with you. Then again by punching Xavier and leaving you unprotected. Another thing I am sorry about." He admitted. "But guilt is not why I said it. I said it because I've missed you. My life hasn't been the same without you. And you can ask anyone…Mike, Donna, Rachel, Jessica…hell even Louis will tell you the same thing. I haven't made fun of him in weeks. Poor guy is starting to develop a healthy sense of self-esteem because I haven't been smacking him back down."

"But I've been a complete mess without you. I haven't slept well. I haven't wanted to eat. I've thought about you constantly. I've just been miserable. I kept looking around my place wishing you were going to walk through the door and tell me it was just a bad dream. But it wasn't. "

She was quiet again and he wondered what was going through her head. He didn't like being so vulnerable to her right now. But she deserved to know the truth.

Before he could say anything else, she reached over and kissed him. It surprised him, but not as much as her hands removing his tie while still kissing him surprised him. There were voices in his head telling him to stop her. But there were also voices telling him to go for it.

Once his tie was on the floor she removed his jacket. He pulled away from the kiss. "This is probably the wrong thing to do right now, you know that. Right?"

"I know, but I don't care." She whispered, looking into his eyes. "Do you want to stop?"

"No." He finally replied, picking her up and carrying her to her bed.


	35. Chapter 35

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Five

Rebecca woke up, immediately aware of the arm draped over her lower abdomen. Flashes of last night went through her mind as she remembered having sex with Harvey…several times.

She closed her eyes, slightly embarrassed about it. She didn't invite him in last night so they could have sex. She just wanted to have an honest conversation about his confession that he still cared about her.

After what he said, she couldn't help herself. He was still like a magnet to her, pulling her closer to him with this invisible force. He was hard to resist. She wasn't proud of herself for giving in so easily.

He said almost everything she had been waiting to hear.

Now, in the light of day, she wasn't sure what to do. Sure he said he cared about her. But did he love her? Did he want to try their relationship again? Did she? What exactly were they doing? What did last night mean? Did it mean anything? Did she want it to mean anything?

Everything right now was a mess. Between the attack, being arrested for murder, her job offer in London and all of the hurt feelings she had it was almost too much for her brain to process.

Before she started to panic too much, she decided to take a deep breath and just enjoy the feeling of being in his arms again. She had missed the feeling of waking up next to him. There was something about being in his arms that made her feel safe and protected, like nothing could ever harm her.

Just when she had quieted her thoughts and was enjoying herself, she felt him stir. That threatened her peaceful state but she realized he was going to have to wake up at some point and this would have to end.

"Mmm…morning." He whispered since his head was right next to her right ear.

"Morning." She whispered back.

"I missed this…waking up with you like this. It was always one of my favorite parts of the day." He admitted after a moment.

She was surprised he was letting himself be vulnerable with her and so she decided to be truthful with him. "I missed it too." She turned over to face him. "But Harvey…"

He stared at her face. "Are you about to say you think this should only be a one-time thing?"

She chuckled. "What gave it away?"

"I know you." He stated quietly.

"Well what do you think?" She asked, wanting his opinion. "Do you think this should only be a one-time thing?"

He was quiet for a moment. "I think right now you have enough problems going on and I don't want to add to that. So if you think last night should just be last night for now and we just hit pause on the conversations I think we both know we need to have, I'm alright with that."

"I appreciate that." She said quietly, reaching to give him a soft kiss. "So we are in agreement then? As soon as we get out of this bed, we put this out of our minds for now."

"Agreed." He nodded. "So since we are still in bed right now…" He let his hand dip down and rested it on her ass before gently pulling her closer to him.

She chuckled. "Seriously?"

"You can't really blame me for wanting you or for trying." He smirked.

"Why do you think I phrased it that way?" She winked at him.

"God I've missed you." He laughed before kissing her.

* * *

"You're late." Donna scolded.

"It's barely 9am." He defended himself. "And besides, I had a late night."

"Are you taking Rebecca's defense seriously?"

"Of course I am." He scoffed.

"Really?" She chuckled. "Then why are you wearing your 'I just got laid for the first time in a while' tie?"

"My what?"

"You heard me." She repeated, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yeah but I don't understand you." He chuckled. "What does that even mean?"

"What did you do last night?" Donna asked.

"Donna, that's not really any of your business…"

"Did you pick up some sleazy girl somewhere and take her back to your place?"

"No." He scoffed. "And why would you automatically go there?"

"Well it seemed more likely than…oh my God. Rebecca isn't here yet either. Why didn't I see it before? You slept with Rebecca, didn't you?"

"A gentleman doesn't kiss and tell."

"You aren't always a gentleman." She pointed out.

"Fine." He sighed. "Yes. We spent the night together. But we agreed it doesn't mean anything right now because of what she's going through."

"It absolutely means something." Donna argued. "What happened?"

He could see she wasn't going away until he told her more. "I told her I still care about her and that everything I said when I broke up with her was a lie."

"So you are going to get back together."

"I don't know." He shook his head. "I'm trying to be respectful of the fact that she has a lot on her plate right now."

"That's just a cop out." Donna pointed out. "You should tell her that you love her."

"And how would that conversation go?" He laughed. "Hey Rebecca, I know your life has turned into a flaming pile of dog shit lately but I love you and I want to be with you again."

"Well the sentiment is nice, but I would work on the delivery." Donna said. "I don't think the words flaming pile of dog shit should be in the same sentence as I love you."

"It doesn't matter because I'm not doing it." He pointed out. "She has enough going on."

"Well like you said…she has had a lot of shitty things happen to her lately. And you have the ability to give her something good but you are depriving her of that."

"One could argue that I gave her something good last night." He smirked.

"I swear to God you two are killing me." She groaned.

"Can you just explain to me how you knew about this tie?" Harvey asked, eager to change the subject so he didn't have to get another lecture from Donna about what he needed to do regarding Rebecca.

"It's my job to notice things, Harvey." She explained. "And like it or not you are predictable. Besides, it is just one of the many reasons Rebecca has called me the human Harvey Specter decoder ring."

"At this point, I'm not even sure I want to know what that means." He chuckled.

"It's probably safer that way." She chuckled before leaving his office.

* * *

Rebecca got off the elevator and found Donna waiting for her. "Hey." She gave a small smile.

"Hey yourself." Donna smirked. "Did you have a good night?"

"He told you." She sighed as they walked together towards Harvey's office.

"I figured it out." Donna corrected her. "He was wearing his 'I just got laid for the first time in a while' tie."

Rebecca laughed. "He has one of those?"

"Oh please. Every man does." Donna chuckled before turning serious again. "So what does this mean for you two?"

"I don't have a clue." She sighed. "I didn't mean to sleep with him last night. He just was opening up to me and saying a lot of things I wanted to hear. I couldn't help myself. But now is the wrong time for this."

"Or the perfect time." Donna told her before sitting at her desk. "Think about it."

Rebecca laughed and shook her head as she went into Harvey's office.


	36. Chapter 36

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Six

Rebecca walked towards Harvey's office. For the past couple of days they had been working together on her defense and it had been nice. While it was slightly awkward to be working so closely with him after sleeping with him, he was being a gentleman about it. Though she would occasionally catch him just staring at her.

She smiled at Donna as she stopped at the desk. "Hey."

"Hey." Donna greeted back.

She looked and saw Harvey's office was empty. "Where is he?"

"He said he had something to do and would be back in fifteen." Donna explained with a shrug.

"Ok." She couldn't get mad at him for having something to do. After all, she couldn't expect him to work on her defense every waking hour of the day.

"So, is today the day you pull your head from your ass and get back together with Harvey?" Donna asked.

It was now time for Donna to do her daily questioning. This was something she had gotten use to because every day Donna ended up asking her about why she wasn't back together with Harvey.

The simple answer was because she had enough on her plate dealing with the murder charges and her upcoming trial.

The more complex answer was that she didn't know what she wanted. If she took the murder trial out of the equation and just looked at her choices, there were two. One choice was she could leave New York and go to London. She could start a new life in a new continent and she could finally try to detox from Harvey once and for all.

The other choice was she to stay in New York and try a relationship with Harvey again. He had been making an effort with her lately. That was clear to her. Ever since he admitted he cared about her, he had been treating her like he used to before they broke up. She recognized that he was trying.

But was it enough?

And what would happen if they got back together and then faced another obstacle? Would he lash out and run away again? This break up almost destroyed her. It was hard for her to pick herself up and move on.

She did of course, because that's what she always does. She pushes forward and moves on. It's something she has done countless times before, most recently after Xavier's attack. But she didn't want to have to keep doing it. She wanted to be happy and she wasn't convinced they could be happy long term.

"Are you still listening?" Donna asked, drawing her attention back.

"Sorry." She apologized. "I was just thinking."

"So you never answered me. Are you going to get back together with Harvey?"

"I refuse to answer that on the grounds that I don't want to." She smirked, using a quote that she had heard Harvey use several times.

Donna chuckled. "Fair enough I guess."

"I'm going to go wait in his office." She smiled at her friend.

Harvey's office was a place she didn't visit much when they were dating. She had been there maybe six or seven times during their entire relationship. Most of those times were because of work and she was never there for very long. In the past week she had been coming every day and staying almost all day long as they poured over everything Cameron Dennis had sent over, looking for any inconsistency and logging all of the lies so those could be combatted during the trial.

She went over to the window, looking at the basketballs he had on display. She was looking over each of them when she heard a voice from behind her.

"Are you admiring my balls?"

She didn't turn around and didn't miss a beat. "Well they are pretty big."

He laughed and appeared next to her. "I got you a coffee."

She took the coffee he held out to her. "Thank you." She smiled after taking a sip and realizing that he had gotten her favorite. "Was that the thing you needed to do?"

"Yeah." He admitted, taking a drink of his own coffee and walking back to his desk. "I thought we could use some caffeine to get through the rest of this."

She watched him fire up his laptop. The fact that he made a special trip to get coffee because he wanted to make her happy made her want to go over and give him a kiss. But she stopped herself. They had agreed to hit pause and she didn't want to be the one to go against that. So she walked over and sat across from him. "Where did we leave off last night?"

* * *

Later on in the day, Mike came in as they were finishing up on the emails.

"We've hit a dead end with Allister's finances." Mike sighed. "I still can't find anything that would suggest he paid someone off."

"He has to have though." Rebecca argued.

Harvey thought about it for a moment. "If he didn't pay someone off himself, check his companies. Have Vanessa help if you run into any problems."

"On it." Mike said, leaving the office.

He looked over at Rebecca and smiled, only to see that there wasn't a smile on her face. "What?"

"Time's running out." She reminded him. "We still can't prove the emails are fake, we haven't figured out who the witness is, and we don't have a solid defense."

"I know." He got up from his chair and walked around his desk. He leaned against the desk next to her chair. "But it's going to be ok."

"Sure it is." She chuckled.

"Come with me." He motioned for her to follow him as he left the office. They walked together silently to Louis' office. "Louis, do you have a moment?"

"Of course." Louis replied, looking up from his computer. "Hey Rebecca."

"Hi Louis." She greeted back.

"What do you need?"

"I need your help." Harvey admitted. "We need to prep Rebecca for her testimony..."

"And you're thinking mock trial." Louis interrupted.

"Yeah." Harvey nodded. "That's exactly what I'm thinking." He turned to Rebecca to get her opinion. "What do you think?"

"I think it's a good idea." She nodded.

"Great." Louis exclaimed. "So do you want me to be you, Harvey?"

Harvey scoffed. "Louis, I can't think of a single scenario where I would ever want you to be me. I need you to be Cameron Dennis."

"Oh…" Louis shook his head. "I don't know. I'm not sure I want to be him."

"And why the hell not?" Harvey sighed.

"I don't want to have to ask some of those questions." He explained.

"But someone has to." Rebecca spoke up. "Please Louis?"

"You're going to hate me." Louis scoffed.

"No I won't." She assured him. "I'm a grown woman and I can separate real from fake."

"Ok." Louis sighed. "I'll do it."

"Thank you." Harvey told him as they left his office.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" She asked as they made their way back to his office.

"I think so." He looked over at her. "You don't?"

"I don't know anymore." She sighed.

He reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a light squeeze. "I made you a promise and I am not going to break it."

"I know." She nodded.


	37. Chapter 37

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Seven

"Are you ready for this?" Harvey asked her as they stood in his office. It was night and all of the other employees had left the building for the day. So it was time for the mock trial. He had to get her prepared for when they called her to the stand since the trial was scheduled to start in a few days. He could guarantee that Cameron Dennis would be absolutely brutal towards her and show no mercy. So she needed to be ready to handle it.

Time was going by too quickly. Unfortunately they kept running into road blocks trying to find a way to dispute the emails and finding the identity of the witness. He hadn't given up but things weren't looking great.

He was starting to get worried that maybe he wasn't going to be able to keep his promise to Rebecca about keeping her out of jail. But that wasn't really an option. One way or another she wasn't going to spend one day in jail. He had a plan B that he had been secretly working on with Mike in case things got too out of control and it looked like he couldn't keep her from being convicted.

But he shook those thoughts from his head because his priority right now had to be to make sure that Rebecca could handle herself on the stand against Cameron Dennis.

"I don't know if I'm ready or not." She took a deep breath. "I guess we'll find out though."

He walked with her to the library, where the mock trial was going to be. He kept his hand on the small of her back, gently letting her know he was with her. "Just remember, Louis was told not to hold back. You may not like him once this is over."

"He's just trying to help." She told him with a smile. "I can handle it."

"Good. You two are here." Jessica smiled from her desk as the judge. "We can get started now. Louis, as the prosecution, you can go first."

"Ok. I call Rebecca Monroe to the stand." Louis announced.

* * *

Rebecca took a deep breath as she sat down.

"Miss Monroe, were you in a relationship with Harvey Specter for several months?" Louis started.

"Objection. Relevance." Harvey said from the defense table.

"It goes towards my next line of questioning." Louis told Jessica.

"I'll allow it." Jessica nodded.

"So, were you in a relationship with Harvey Specter?" Louis asked again.

"Yes." She answered honestly, focusing on Louis' face instead of Harvey's.

"And what prompted the end of your relationship?"

She hesitated, unsure how in depth she needed to be. "There were issues of trust and commitment."

"Was one of those issues stemming from the fact that he saw Xavier Bastin kiss you in your office over two months ago?" Louis asked.

"Yes." She answered honestly.

"Was that the first time you and Xavier kissed?"

"Yes." She answered.

"I'd like you to remember that you are under oath and can face perjury charges. I'd also like to bring in exhibit A, a transcript of emails exchanged between the defendant and Xavier Bastin. Specifically I'd like to call into focus page 30, the second paragraph down. _I keep thinking about our kiss and wishing we could repeat it. It plays on repeat in my head._ That was in an email he sent to you four months ago. Weren't you still dating Mr. Specter at that time?"

"I was, but those emails…"

"Judging from these emails, is it fair to say you were conflicted between the two gentlemen?" Louis asked.

"No." She shook her head. "I didn't have any feeling for Xavier."

"But there is a stack of emails here that prove otherwise. You flirted and reference kissing. You make plans for dates. Did you cheat on Mr. Specter?"

"No." She shook her head again. "The emails are fake."

"How convenient that you claim they are fake." Louis scoffed. "Let's talk about what happened after you claim to be attacked. Who did you call first? 911 or Harvey Specter?"

"Harvey." She said quietly.

"That's right. According to your phone records, you called him and then about twenty minutes later you placed a call into 911. Why did you call Mr. Specter first instead of trying to get help for Xavier?"

"I panicked."

"Did you panic or did you just know that calling Harvey and telling him what happened would make him come running to your side so you could get him back?"

"Objection!" Harvey stood up again. "Counsel is badgering the witness."

"I'll step back." Louis agreed. "Who was with you at the hospital when you gave your statement to the cops?"

"Harvey."

"And what did you do when you left the hospital? Whose place did you go to for the night?"

"Harvey's." She begrudgingly answered.

"Who is your lawyer for this trial?"

"Harvey."

"Did you sleep with him that night after you killed Xavier Bastin?"

"Objection!" Harvey yelled. "Relevance."

"I have to be able to establish that Rebecca has a long, complicated relationship with Harvey."

"Over-ruled." Jessica stated. "But tread carefully because you are on thin ice."

"Have you been intimate with Harvey Specter since Xavier's death?"

"Objection!" Harvey spoke up. "Relevance?"

"I'm trying to ascertain what their relationship is right now." Louis explained.

"Over-ruled." Jessica sighed.

Rebecca looked over at Harvey for a moment before looking back at Louis. She knew Louis was just doing her job. She knew that Cameron Dennis would ask these same questions. But she wasn't ready for them. Every time Louis asked a question, it made it look more and more like she killed Xavier to get back together with Harvey.

She knew that if she got on the witness stand the jury would see that she was hiding something because she was actually hiding something. She was hiding the fact that Xavier knew about Mike being a fraud. But since she couldn't explain that, the jury would likely attribute her secret to being that she killed Xavier to get back with Harvey.

She didn't realize how much time had lapsed since Louis asked the question until he repeated himself.

"Ms. Monroe, let me remind you that you are still under oath. Have you and Harvey Specter been intimate since Xavier Bastin's death?"

"I…" She didn't want to lie, but she also didn't want to tell the truth because it made her look guilty according to Louis' line of questioning.

"Do you love Harvey Specter?" Louis asked.

"I…" She definitely wasn't prepared for that question and didn't want to answer it in front of Harvey. The last time she told him she loved him he broke up with her. If she did it again, he might stop being her lawyer and then she would be even more screwed with this trial than she already was.

"You are pausing a lot. Are you going to answer any of my questions? Or are you just going to keep looking at your lawyer, who actually happens to be Harvey Specter?" Louis asked.

"Ok, this is done." Harvey stood up. "Louis, you can stop now."

"We aren't even half way through the questions." Louis complained.

"I don't care!" Harvey yelled. "That's enough!"

She couldn't look over at him so she looked over at Jessica. The other woman looked at her with compassion.

"It's over." Harvey repeated.

"She's never going to be ready if you pull the plug on this right now." Louis pointed out.

"She'll be ready." He assured Louis. "But we aren't doing this anymore."

"She needs this to know what Cameron Dennis is going to throw at her." Louis started to yell. "Just because you don't like my questions doesn't mean you get to pull the plug on this mock trial. You won't be able to do that in real court."

"It doesn't matter!" Harvey yelled back. "I'll prepare her a different way. But we aren't doing this anymore."

"Who died and made you king?" Louis yelled. "You asked for my help. I gave you my help and now you want to stop because you don't like the questions I ask. I realize these are sensitive questions but you know Cameron Dennis is going to ask them."

She looked back over at Jessica, who motioned for her to leave the room while the men were busy arguing. She didn't have to be told twice. She snuck away and walked down the hallway back to Harvey's office.

"Is the mock trial over already?" Donna asked from her desk.

"I think so. Louis was asking some questions about my relationship with Harvey and Harvey started yelling that the mock trial was over. So I left. They are still in there arguing."

"Are you ok?" Donna asked.

She saw the look of worry on her friends' face. "I'm in a lot of trouble, Donna." She stated in a calm voice.

"This isn't a simple self-defense case. Harvey keeps trying to make it that but it isn't. I didn't mean to kill Xavier, but I did want to stop him. I needed to stop him. And it wasn't just stopping him from attacking me. I had to stop him from going after Mike and Harvey."

"But I can't explain that because then I have to explain why, and that's just as bad as if Xavier had lived and told his suspicions to the police. The mock trial has showed me that I can't get up on that stand. I can't testify, because the jury will see I'm hiding something. They will assume it was Cameron Dennis' theory about me seeing both Xavier and Harvey at the same time. And because of the forged emails and the fake witness, I don't stand a chance. I'm going to get convicted and I'm going to jail…probably for a very long time."

"You have to have faith in Harvey." Donna told her.

"I have faith that he will do everything he can. But this isn't about faith in him. It's about the fact that this is my mess." She argued. "It's not Harvey's and it isn't fair to make him spend so much time cleaning up my mess."

"What are you thinking of doing?"

"Something I should have done in the beginning." She sighed, grabbing her purse from Harvey's office.

"If you are thinking what I think you're thinking…" Donna trailed off. "It's a bad idea…like a monumentally bad idea."

"I don't have a choice." She argued. "The trial starts in three days. We don't have a case. I can't even take the stand. I am screwed no matter what. The best thing I can do is minimize the damage for everyone."

"You have to trust that Harvey will take care of this." Donna lectured. "Rebecca, promise me you won't do anything reckless."

"One man's reckless is another man's practical." Rebecca laughed. "Goodnight Donna." She had somewhere she needed to go. Although Donna was trying to talk her out of it, she felt like it was something she needed to do for everyone's sake.

* * *

"I don't care Louis!" Harvey yelled, still arguing about the mock trial.

"You're ruining her chances of giving good testimony by pulling the plug on this." Louis argued.

"And I'm telling you I can still get her prepared for the stand without you peppering her with questions that she shouldn't have to answer."

"You're right about that. She shouldn't have to answer those questions, but you and I both know that Cameron Dennis will be asking those kind of questions. Are you going to jump up and declare the trial over when he asks those questions? Or are you going to have her plead the fifth and look guilty?" Louis asked.

"I don't know if there will even be a trial at this point." Donna spoke up from the doorway.

"What do you mean?" Harvey asked, looking over. Then he scanned the room. "Where is Rebecca?"

"I sent her out of the room when it became clear you two boys were going to have your little pissing contest." Jessica sighed. "I didn't think she needed to be here for that."

"And I think Rebecca is going to Cameron for a plea deal." Donna replied.

"Goddammit." Harvey sighed, pulling out his phone. "How long ago did she leave?"

"About five minutes ago." Donna replied.

"Ray…meet me out front." He hung up and shook his head. "What the hell is she thinking?"

"She's scared." Jessica pointed out. "Anyone can see the terror in her eyes. And this mock trial only made it worse."

"I've got to go stop her." He said leaving the room. While walking to the elevator, he tried to call Rebecca but it went straight to voicemail.

"Harvey…" Donna caught up to him.

"What Donna?" He sighed, pushing the down button. "I have to go stop her from making the biggest mistake ever."

"Just know that she doesn't think she has a choice." She cautioned. "She is terrified because she doesn't think she has a solid defense."

"She's not the only one who is terrified." He admitted. "But this is a bad idea."

"I agree." Donna sighed. "Don't go in there and be jerk to her by being angry though. Don't make things worse."

"I make no promises." He told her.


	38. Chapter 38

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Rebecca knocked on the door, nervous about coming here. But it seemed like her only way out. The door opened, revealing Cameron Dennis.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, looking at her suspiciously. "And how did you find out where I live? Did Harvey tell you?"

"No." She shook her head. "I have my own ways of finding things out. I'm here to talk about my case and see if we can come to an agreement."

He laughed. "I thought your lawyer said there was no way you would ever agree to a plea deal."

"I didn't say I'm agreeing to anything yet." She cautioned. "I just want to know what all of my options are."

"Well come on in." He moved to the side. "Let's talk in my office."

Rebecca read over the agreement he handed her. She would plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter and receive 16 months in jail. With good behavior she could be out in a little less than a year. If she took her chances with the trial she could get over 20 years. Either way she would lose her ability to practice law though.

It was surreal that her life had come to this kind of decision.

"So what do you think?" Cameron asked. "This is as good of a deal as I'll ever offer."

This wasn't something she wanted to do, but it was what had to be done. Going on the witness stand wouldn't end well. She would either spill the beans about Mike and Harvey or the jury would see she was hiding something. Either way, it wasn't a viable option. This had to be done to protect everyone and it had to be done now before time ran out.

"Give me a pen. I'll sign it." She replied calmly.

"You're signing that over my dead body." Harvey's voice boomed from the doorway.

"Harvey. How did you get in my house?" Cameron scoffed.

"Helen let me in. Seems your wife still has a soft spot for me." Harvey said as he came over. He snatched the papers from her hands and ripped them up before throwing them on Cameron's desk. "She's not signing your shitty plea agreements tonight or any night."

"This is a private meeting." Cameron pointed out. "I don't believe you were invited."

"I'm her lawyer so I have a right to be here." He pointed out. "C'mon, let's go."

"Harvey…"

"Don't let me get in the middle of your lover's quarrel." Cameron interjected. "But keep in mind that if you leave right now, all plea agreements go out the window for good. You don't get a second chance."

"That's fine with us." Harvey lightly grabbed her arm.

"You don't get to make that decision for me." She objected, standing up and planting her feet so he couldn't move her.

"Someone rational has to make this decision because you aren't thinking clearly." He told her, leaning in closer and whispering into her ear. "C'mon. Don't do this. Don't make me have to carry you out of here, because I will."

"Fine." She removed his hand from her arm and stormed out of the office. When she got to the front yard she turned around and shook her head at him. "What the hell, Harvey?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He scoffed. He then pointed to the car. "C'mon. Let's get out of here."

The only reason she got into the car was because she didn't want to have to wait for a cab or Uber. There was silence between them for the first few minutes.

"Donna told you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and you should thank her for that the next time you see her." He scolded. "What the hell were you thinking going to Cameron behind my back? Do you really want to go to jail that badly? Or do you just not believe in my ability take care of this?"

"You wouldn't understand." She said, staring out the window.

"Then make me understand."

"It's not about you Harvey." She sighed. "It's about me."

"It sure feels like a slap in the face." His voice was quiet now and she looked over at him. He was facing the window.

"My going to Cameron wasn't about my faith or my belief in your abilities. I just…the mock trial…"

"Forget about the mock trial." He interrupted. "Louis shouldn't have…"

"He was right to bring up those questions and you know it." She interrupted him. "He had every right to and I'm glad he did. He made me see some things clearly."

"What things?"

"I can't testify." She answered. "No matter what happens, you can't put me up there on the stand. You have to promise me."

He laughed. "You're kidding, right? Our whole claim is self-defense. That means you have to take the stand."

"I can't." She shook her head.

"Why the hell not?"

"If I take the stand, Cameron is going to ask the same kinds of things about our relationship that Louis did tonight. He will ask why I called you and I'm not that good of a liar. There were two reasons I called you that night. One was to tell you about Xavier's suspicions of Mike, which isn't something I can bring up without opening up another can of worms."

"What was the other reason?' He asked.

She sighed. "That's not important right now. Focus on what I'm saying, Harvey. Right now there's no way we can win at trial except if I testify. But that's simply not an option either. The jury will see I'm hiding something and they will either assume that Cameron's theories about seeing both you and Xavier at the same time were true or I'll crack and let it slip about Mike. So I'll either snitch and ruin everyone's life or I'll get convicted of murder and be lucky if I get parole. So I'll say it again. I can't testify."

"Which is why you wanted to take the plea." He released a deep sigh.

He was quiet for a while. They pulled up to her place and he got out of the car first.

She got out and followed him into her building. Apparently they weren't done talking and he was coming up with her. The whole trek up to her place was silent. She started talking again once they were standing in her living room.

"This whole thing is my mess. But everyone has been running around trying to find something that will get me off the hook for this and it isn't their responsibility. I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to agree to involuntary manslaughter and lose my law license. But I thought that it was the lesser of two evils. At least this way, you, Mike, Rachel and everyone else still are protected." She explained.

"That is both the sweetest and the dumbest thing I've ever heard anyone say in my entire life."

"Harvey…"

"No." He interrupted. "Let me finish. I understand that you think taking a plea means no one finds out about Mike. And trust me, the fact that you would do that…it means more to me than you could ever know. But now is not the time for you to panic and it certainly isn't the time to take one for the team."

"The trial is in 3 days." She pointed out. "We don't have a solid defense strategy."

"Yet." He pointed out. "We still have 3 days."

"You're infuriating, you know that, right?" She started to pace around the room.

"That's like the pot calling the kettle black." He laughed.

She turned to face him and scowled. "The point is, yeah I panicked after the mock trial. So I went to go explore my options. And I thought that maybe spending 12-16 months in jail would be better than 20 years."

He came over to her and grabbed her hand. "I'm not letting you go to jail for even a day."

"You can't promise that."

"Of course I can." He smirked. "I'm Harvey Specter. The only lawyer I lose to is you, but we're on the same side this time. So I can't lose."

She couldn't help but smile at the confidence he had in his abilities.

"It's ok to panic." He told her. "But next time, just tell me. Don't go behind my back to Cameron."

"I don't think that's even an option anymore." She sighed. "But ok. Next time, I'll come to you about it. Although you were pretty busy yelling at Louis."

"Yeah." He nodded. "I went off on him a little harder than I should have."

"You should apologize." She prodded. "He was just trying to help."

"Whose side are you on anyway?" He chuckled.

"Yours…always yours." She answered honestly. "But that doesn't mean I turn a blind eye to when you're wrong."

"True." He nodded. "So will you tell me now what the second reason was of why you called me that night?"

"Harvey…" It was an embarrassing reason and she wasn't sure she wanted to tell him.

"C'mon." He flashed her a charming smile. "You know you want to tell me."

She took a deep breath. "Fine. If you must know, the other reason I called you was because anytime something happens in my life you are the first person I want to tell. It doesn't matter if it is a good something or a bad something. I just always want to tell you first."

She wondered if she had spooked him with her admission so she decided to keep talking. "Why did you come after me? Why couldn't you just let me take the plea deal?"

"Do you want the truth?" He asked.

She nodded. "Of course."

He paused for a moment. "I couldn't let you take a plea deal because I love you and just the thought of you being in prison for even a moment makes me crazy."

She couldn't believe what she heard. One look at his face told her that he was telling the truth. They obviously needed to talk about this.

But his phone rang. There was a look of annoyance on his face as he let go of her hand. He moved away from her and pulled out his phone. "What is it Mike?...Really?...And you're sure?...Ok. We'll pursue this first thing tomorrow morning. Good work."

When he got off the phone he was smiling.

"What?" She asked, curious about what Mike told him.

"Mike just figured out who the witness is."

"Really?" She couldn't help but smile. "That's great. Who is it?"

"Adrienne."

The smile left her face. "Why would she lie?"

"That's the best part. Adrienne is actually Allister's illegitimate daughter. So Xaiver was her half-brother." Harvey explained.

"He never mentioned that." She pointed out.

"Mike double checked it." Harvey assured her. "He also found large wire transfers from Allister to her account the day after Xavier's death that came from his company, which is why we didn't find it when we checked into him before."

"That wire transfer must be because he paid her off to lie about me having an affair with Xavier."

"Exactly." Harvey nodded. "Now that we know who the witness is, we can work on getting her not to testify or at the very least discrediting her."

"Shouldn't be too hard to discredit her." She chuckled. "I can't believe that though. I trusted her."

"Not every secretary can be as trustworthy as Donna." He pointed out.

"That sure is true." She sighed.

"Not to sound conceited, but aren't you glad you didn't sign that plea deal now?" He smirked as he came closer to her again.

She rolled her eyes at him. "We have a lead on a defense strategy, but it isn't a slam dunk yet."

"It will be though." He told her, bringing his right hand up to her face and tucking some hair behind her ear. "I promised I would get you through this and I'm not breaking that promise."

"I know." She nodded. "We need to talk about what you said."

"I know." He nodded.

"Did you mean it?" She whispered.

"I did." He whispered back.

His lips descended upon hers, softly at first before picking up in intensity. His arm wrapped around her waist like a snake before he pulled her even closer to him.

So she placed her hands on both side of his face, holding on to him for dear life. Alarm bells rang in her head as she told herself this wasn't a good idea, but she silenced them because she wasn't sure how many more opportunities she would have to do this with him.

Even if he was somehow able to get the charges dismissed and keep her from going to jail, she still planning on taking the job in England.

He pulled away first, leaving just enough room between their faces so they could come back up for fresh air.

"Should I stop?" He whispered, staring into her eyes.

"No." She whispered back. "Don't stop."

He grabbed her hand, kissing the back of it, before leading her to her bedroom.


	39. Chapter 39

Synchronicity

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Harvey woke up slowly, grinning when he realized that last night wasn't a dream. He really was back at Rebecca's place with her. She was cuddled up to him, still asleep with her head laying on his chest and her arm possessively curled around him.

He didn't mean to tell her that he loved her last night. It was just an admission that spilled out organically and without warning. But thinking about it, he was glad he told her. She deserved to know and to be completely honest with himself he probably should have said it a long time ago.

He felt lighter now that he had said it, like a huge weight was lifted from his shoulders. But then he remembered that Rebecca was still being prosecuted for murder and the weight went back on.

If he hadn't been so stubborn about it, maybe this whole situation wouldn't have happened. He hated the fact that she had to go through this. But maybe now that they knew who the fake witness was, they could convince her to do the right thing and not testify. That would help Rebecca's case. Then they could go to Cameron and get him to drop the charges.

The mock trial was a terrible idea. He thought it would help, but it almost backfired. He was glad that he was able to stop her from signing the plea agreement.

He was still worried he wasn't going to be able to keep her from going to jail, but he could never tell her that. He had to appear like he believed he could keep her out of jail so she didn't panic because they couldn't both panic at the same time.

He felt her start to stir and kissed the top of her head. "Morning."

"Hey." She said sleepily. "What time is it?"

He looked over at the clock. "7:02."

"We should get going." She moved to get up but he wrapped his arms around her tighter to keep her close.

"We have some time." He told her.

"Harvey…" She chuckled.

"Yeah?"

She moved to prop herself up on her elbows so she could look at him. "Did you really mean it?"

He looked at the hesitance plastered on her face and frowned. "I hate that your first instinct is to doubt me."

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "It's just that…"

"No." He shook his head. "You don't have to apologize. You have every right to doubt what I said given the way I've hurt you in the past. I hate that I've given you reason to doubt me. But I absolutely meant it."

She gave him a small smile before reaching up and kissing him. "Do you mind if we stay in bed for a moment? I'm enjoying being in this little bubble where nothing exists except you and me."

"If I could, I'd let us stay here forever." He smiled.

* * *

Harvey strolled into his office later that morning with Donna following right behind him.

"Did you stop her?" Donna asked.

"Yes. I got there just in time." He explained. "She was about ready to sign a deal that would have put her in jail for at least a year."

"Oh thank God you got there when you did." Donna sighed in relief.

"Where's Mike?"

"I don't know." Donna replied. "As far as I know, he hasn't come in yet."

He checked his watch for the time. "He's always here by now."

"Ok, I just have to say I am due for a raise." Mike gloated, entering the office.

"You want a raise for being late to work?" Harvey chuckled.

"No." Mike shook his head. "I want a raise for the reason I'm late to work." He then turned his head and saw Rebecca come into the office. "Great. Everyone is here. I can explain."

"Just get on with it." Harvey chuckled. "Why were you late?"

"I was late because I was busy talking to Adrienne." Mike replied with a smile.

"You were supposed to wait for me to do that." Harvey sighed. "How badly did it go?"

"It didn't go badly at all." Mike shook his head. "I took a page from the Harvey Specter playbook and now she is on our side."

"What do you mean by that?" Rebecca asked.

"I used one of Harvey's tricks…"

"No. Mike, I understand that part." Rebecca interrupted. "How is she now on our side? She is a witness for the prosecution."

"Actually, not anymore." Mike replied. "I dug into her personal life and she is Allister's illegitimate daughter. But the reason no one realized it is because she used her mother's maiden name. She says Xavier didn't even know she was his half-sister."

"So why was she working there?" Harvey asked.

"It was Allister's idea so he could keep an eye on his son. Xavier was poised to inherit all of Allister's fortune from his businesses. He wanted to make sure that Xavier was behaving so he paid Adrienne to keep a close eye on him. Public personas are apparently important to Allister. He needed Adrienne to make sure that Xavier wasn't doing anything that would reflect badly on the family." Mike explained.

"Maybe that's why he was always so interested in who Xavier was dating." Rebecca pointed out.

"Exactly." Mike confirmed. "When Allister found out what happened that night, he went into damage control mode and concocted the story about his son being the innocent victim instead of the evil villain. He coerced Adrienne into backing him up. She was actually the one who implanted the fake emails into the computer system at the firm. It turns out she has a degree in IT."

"So she is the key to dismissing the entire case?" Harvey asked.

"Correct." Mike smiled.

"And why would she suddenly turn away from her father and be on our side?" Rebecca asked.

"Because I had Lola do some more digging last night and she found a copy of Allister's will. Adrienne isn't in it. He originally had her getting a large chunk of his money upon his death, but two weeks ago he changed it and cut her out of the will completely." Mike explained.

"So you let her know about it this morning." Rebecca filled in the blanks.

"And she now feels used and wants to do whatever she can to help us." Mike smiled.

"That's amazing." Rebecca went over and hugged Mike. Then she pulled away and looked at Harvey. "There's actually a way for you to get this whole thing to go away."

"Yeah." He smiled.

"I'll go prepare the brief." Mike smiled before leaving the room.

"I'm going to go tell Rachel." Donna smiled, also leaving.

She came over and leaned against his desk next to his chair. "Why don't you look happier about this? Do you think it won't work?"

"No." He shook his head. "I think we have a very good chance of getting Cameron to throw out the charges. And if he doesn't, I think the judge will. I'm happy about this."

"But you don't look very happy." She pointed out.

"I just…" He sighed. "Mike saved the day and that's good."

"Oh. I get it. You wanted to be the one to save the day." She guessed with a chuckle. "You wanted to be the hero."

"Maybe." He smirked. "Is that so bad?"

"No." She shook her head. Then she leaned in. "Don't worry. You're still my hero. Let me know what happens after you talk to Cameron."

"Where are you going?"

"I have some things I need to take care of." She answered.

He watched her walk away and knew there was something he needed to do. It was something he should have done a while ago, but he was too scared.

* * *

Rebecca entered the office and stood in front of the desk.

"Rebecca!" David greeted with a smile. He got up from his desk and came over to give her a hug. "How are you holding up?"

"Oh, you know me." She chuckled. "I always manage to get by somehow."

"Yes you do because you are a survivor." He nodded, leaning against his desk. "What brings you by today?"

"There is a very good chance that the charges against me are going to be dropped very soon." She explained. "Maybe even today."

"Well that's great!" He smiled. "I never believed you murdered Xavier. I always believed it was self-defense."

"That's good to know, because I was wondering if there was any way I could come work here." She hated having to come to David to ask for a job, but she knew he would be honest with her about her ability to work again in this city.

Hearing that Harvey did actually love her had rattled her. It made her wonder if there was a chance they could get back together. She wasn't proud of herself for giving in and sleeping with him twice already, but she couldn't control herself. She had always been attracted to him and she wasn't going to apologize for it.

She wasn't certain she would stay in New York City, but she definitely wouldn't stay if she couldn't get another job. So she had to find out what her options were.

"Rebecca…" He trailed off.

"So it's a no?" She asked, judging by the look on his face.

"If it were up to me, I would say yes in a heartbeat because I know how much you are worth as a lawyer. But the word is out on the streets. No one is going to be hiring you because of the murder charges and Florrick and James have poisoned your name to every law firm. I'm so sorry to have to be the one to tell you that."

"It's ok." She shook her head. "I understand."

"I wish things were different." He told her.

"Me too." She nodded. "But it's alright."

"Do you want to get lunch with me today?" He asked.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm sure you're busy so I'll see myself out."

She didn't wait for David to say anything else before she left. If she wasn't able to find another job here, then that made her decision about Harvey easier. It also broke her heart.

* * *

Rebecca sat at the table in the courtroom waiting impatiently for court to begin. She wasn't able to go with Harvey when he confronted Cameron about Adrienne's new testimony but he told her afterwards that everything was going to be ok.

Still, she didn't want to believe it until she heard it from the judge.

"All rise!" The baliff called out.

"You may be seated." The judge told them. "Ok gentleman, what is the topic for this impromptu hearing?"

"Your Honor, we are requesting that the charges against Ms. Monroe be dropped." Cameron Dennis said begrudgingly.

"On what grounds?" The judge asked.

"My evidence has been proven to be unreliable." He answered. "And my witness is gone."

"Well then, it looks like I have no choice but to drop the charges. Congratulations Ms. Monroe. All charges against you are officially dropped." The judge said before banging her gavel.

Rebecca smiled at Mike and gave him a quick hug. Then she turned to Harvey and grinned. She was about to give him a hug when she saw Cameron Dennis approach the table.

"I don't believe that you are entirely innocent because innocent people don't try to take plea deals." He said to Rebecca. "But your guy here managed to get me to drop the charges anyway. Congratulations for getting away with it."

She watched him walk away. "He's a dick." She said once he was out of earshot.

Harvey laughed. "Yeah. He really is."

She closed the gap between them and gave him a big hug. "Thank you Harvey."

"I told you that you wouldn't spend a day in jail." He whispered in her ear.

She pulled away and placed a kiss on his cheek.


	40. Chapter 40

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty

It was getting late and honestly all Rebecca wanted to do was go to Harvey's place because they had agreed to meet there tonight after the hearing so they could talk. But Donna convinced her to come to the office first by saying it was important. So she was currently following her friend down the halls. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Donna chuckled.

They were to the conference room and she saw everyone waiting for her. "What did you do?" She laughed.

"Everyone wanted to celebrate your victory." Donna smiled, opening the door for her. "So we planned an impromptu party for you."

She entered the room to see Jessica, Louis, Rachel, Mike and Harvey inside. All of them were holding glasses of Champagne. Harvey picked one up for her and brought it over.

"Thank you." She told him, taking the glass. She looked at everyone before going back to looking at Harvey. "I want to say thank you to all of you. You have each stuck by me through the worst time of my life and I wouldn't be here right now without each of you."

Harvey raised his glass and smiled at her.

"Ok." She sighed. "I do actually have one more thing to say. I figure that I should just go ahead and say it since you are all gathered here." She didn't know if this was the best way to tell everyone the news, but she was going to do it anyway. It was like ripping off the band-aid quickly because this way she didn't have to tell everyone separately. "I got a job with a firm in London and I'll be moving there in about a week."

"What?" Donna asked with an audible gasp.

"I think I speak for everyone when I say we assumed you would be staying in the city." Rachel spoke up.

"This was something I actually set into motion before this all happened. I tried to stay but there isn't a firm around here that will hire me because of the negative publicity it might cause. So I have to go through with my original plans." She explained, purposefully not looking over at Harvey. Out of the corner of her eye though she saw him stalk out of the conference room.

As much as she wanted to run after him, she stopped herself.

"Are you sure about this?" Mike asked.

"I am." Rebecca lied. She wasn't sure about this move. It made sense when she believed a relationship with Harvey wasn't going to be possible. But now…things were confusing.

"Well then let me be the first to say you will be missed around here." He came over and gave her a hug.

"Thanks Mike."

* * *

About a half hour later, Rebecca found Harvey sitting in his office listening to his fathers' records. She had finally gotten a chance to sneak off from her party. He didn't turn around when she came in.

"You left the party pretty early…"

"I wanted to be alone." He said gruffly. "I still do."

She walked around so she could look at his face instead of the back of his head.

"I asked you to leave."

"So we can't even talk about this?"

"What's there to talk about?" He scoffed, putting down his drink. "You already took the job and are moving halfway across the world. Now you want to talk about it? Isn't that a little backwards?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" He shrugged. "You're an adult and it doesn't matter to me what you do."

"That's bullshit Harvey and we both know it."

He stood up and sighed.

"I know you." She pointed out. "You're upset about this. That's why you're hiding out in your office like this."

"You're Goddamn right I'm upset about this!" He yelled. "I worked my ass off trying to make sure that you didn't go to jail or get disbarred and this is how you thank me!"

"I'll never be able to repay you…"

"Goddammit I don't want you to repay me!"

"What do you want from me then?" She yelled back at him.

"I want you! I've always wanted you." He admitted, making his next statement quieter. "Goddammit. You've got to know by now that I do love you."

"Harvey…"

"Don't." He warned her. "Don't Harvey me. I don't want to hear it. I meant it when I said I love you. And I guess I thought that now since your charges have been dropped we could have a discussion about that all means. But I was apparently wrong because you've already made up your mind that my love means nothing."

She wasn't sure what to say anymore. She couldn't pretend hearing him say he wanted her and he loved her didn't affect her. It made her want to leap into his arms and never let go.

"Just go."

She understood why he wanted her to leave. He just opened himself up to being vulnerable with her and he was scared because he thought she was throwing it back in his face. She could see it in his eyes and she also knew she had to plan her next words carefully.

"When I was a little girl, before my mom died, I had this fantasy I would play out with my dolls. The girl and boy would meet. They would instantly fall in love, which at my age I thought just meant they would spend all of their time together. They would get married and live happily ever after. But then my mom was gone and I stopped playing out that fantasy. As I got older I realized that love was messy and painful at times. There was no happily ever after guaranteed."

"And what's the point of that story?" Harvey asked.

"Ever since we got together, I've been trying to change you." She admitted. "I've been trying to get you to follow through on my original fantasy that I had as a kid and that isn't fair to you. You made it perfectly clear from the beginning that you don't do relationships but I kept pushing you to do it. And every time I try to push you into that box it turns out terribly for us."

"No one pushes me to do anything I don't want to do." He asserted.

She sighed, not wanting to fight about that. "My point is this. I thought we could be my original fantasy, but we're more like the second one. Our relationship is messy and painful and I don't know if we could ever have a happily ever after."

"But you don't want to even try." He guessed. "You just want to give up."

"I want to try so badly that it physically hurts me." She admitted. "I've loved you for a while now and I will always love you. I just…"

Before she got a chance to say anything else, he rushed over to her. He put his hands gently on the sides of her face and leaned in for a kiss.

She finally pulled away and rested her head on his shoulder.

"I have been wanting to hear you say you love me for so long." She started to explain. "But love isn't always enough."

"I think you're wrong." He argued. "I think love is all you need."

"Ok what about when the next time something bad or unexpected happens between us? What then? How can I be sure you won't freak out and leave me again?" She didn't pause for long after saying that. "I'll tell you how. I can't. I hate it that I can't just jump right in and trust in you not to break my heart again but it's the truth unfortunately. When things are good between us, it makes me feel like I can tackle anything. When things are bad between us, I have to push myself just to get out of bed. And I can't…"

"I'm better now." He told her. "I know what it's like to be without you and I hate it. I'm not going to leave you again. So stay." He whispered. "Please. Just stay. Don't leave me."

"Even if I stayed, there's nothing for me to do here." She reasoned. "No one is hiring me after what happened. I'm a liability and practically poison."

He pulled away enough to look her in the eyes. "Work here."

She scoffed. "Jessica wouldn't allow that."

"You don't know that for sure." He argued. "C'mon." He sighed. "Work with me here a little. I'm trying."

"I know you are." She gave him a quick kiss. "We could do long distance."

"No." He shook his head. "That never works."

"We could make it fun." She smirked.

"No." He shook his head again. "You either stay here and we're together or you leave and we're done…forever."

"Why does it have to be all or nothing?"

"It just does." He sighed, detangling himself from her and sitting back down. "Shit. I just told you I love you and you act like it doesn't even matter to you."

"Of course it matters to me!" She exclaimed.

"Bullshit! If it really mattered to you, you would stay."

"That's not fair and you know it." She shook her head. "I'm a lawyer and I can't get a job here. What am I supposed to do?"

"I'll take care of you." He offered immediately.

"No." She objected. "I'm not going to be a kept woman."

"That's not exactly what I meant…"

"It doesn't matter you mean." She sighed. "Harvey…I don't see how I can stay here."

"Then just know that if you leave, we're over."

She stared at him and knew he was telling the truth. "Harvey I don't have a choice. I have to leave."

"Then we're over."

"I'm sorry you feel that way." She said before leaving his office.

* * *

"Mind if I join you?" Harvey asked as he entered Jessica's office. She was sitting on her couch, enjoying a drink.

"I figured you would be with Rebecca celebrating your win." Jessica told him, motioning for him to join her.

He poured himself a drink and sat down across from her. "She is moving to London."

"I know."

"She says no firm here will touch her because of what happened. She thinks she is poison to other firms."

"I have to agree with that unfortunately." Jessica told him.

"Is there any way you could…"

"Harvey, I'm going to stop you right there." She interrupted. "No."

"Why the hell not?" He yelled.

"Why do you want her to stay?" She asked.

"It's Rebecca." Harvey pointed out. "C'mon. Do I really have to explain my relationship with her?"

"To me, for this kind of a favor, you sure as hell do." Jessica said, speaking bluntly. "What is she to you?"

"She's…" He didn't know if he could say the words to Jessica. "She's Rebecca. C'mon Jessica. What's the harm of offering her a place here?"

"The harm is that she just got accused of murdering a name partner at her other firm and was about to stand trial for it."

"But we know she didn't do it on purpose. It was self-defense. And she did us a favor because Xavier was starting to catch on about Mike. We should do her a favor and hire her." He pointed out. "Besides, we got the charges dropped."

"But the damage to her reputation is already done." Jessica pointed out. "And you're avoiding my question. What is she to you?"

He sighed. "She…she's everything to me."

"You say that but if she truly was everything you would be considering a move to London too." Jessica pointed out.

"I can't though." He argued. "I've got this firm and Mike and Donna here. I have responsibilities to them and this firm."

"So you see how it is hard for me to believe Rebecca is everything to you?" She asked.

"You're saying that just because I have other people in my life that I care about and don't want to leave it means I don't truly love Rebecca?" Harvey asked.

"I never said anything about love." Jessica reminded him.

He sighed. "Well of course I love her."

"Yet you broke up with her. And from what I can gather from Donna, you've broken if off several times. Who's to say I let you bring her into our firm and two weeks or two months later you break up again? I can't just fire her if you two don't work out and we can't afford to go out on a limb for her with the other senior partners only for her to quit."

He looked at Jessica and realized he needed to lay all of his cards out on the table. He reached into his pants pocket and placed a small ring box on Jessica's coffee table.

He saw Jessica's eyebrows rise up. She picked up the box and opened it, looking at the contents for a moment before closing it and putting it back on the coffee table.

"So you are serious."

"I am or at least I was until she said she was leaving." He nodded. It took her getting attacked and having to go through bogus murder charges for him to realize that she was the one he wanted to spend his life with. To be honest he never thought in a million years he would ever want to get married, but he also never thought he would be in a relationship either and she changed his mind about that too.

He was going to propose to her tonight after celebrating their win, but then she announced she was leaving and everything went to shit.

"I take it she hasn't seen this?" Jessica asked.

"No." He shook his head.

"Does she even know you are here asking for a job for her?"

"No." He answered, putting the ring back in his pocket.

"Harvey, I can understand why you want her to stay, but I can't go to the other partners and convince them to let me offer a job to her without knowing if she even wants to be here." Jessica explained. "I'm sorry."

"So I'm just supposed to let her go?"

"Maybe." Jessica nodded. "You need to have faith that whatever is supposed to happen will happen. I know it is a hard lesson to learn. But there are certain things that even Harvey Specter can't influence."

"It shouldn't be that way." He sighed.


	41. Chapter 41

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-One

The next day Rebecca started packing up her penthouse, starting with the closets. She pulled out what she called her Harvey box. It contained everything she saved from her relationship with him. There were a couple of movie tickets, a napkin from the bar they met at, the note he sent when he gave her the key to his penthouse and other mementos. At the bottom of the box were her favorite things. There were two were photos she had framed. The first was a selfie she practically had to trick him into taking.

 _It was a rainy Saturday and he was sitting on his couch typing up a brief. There was something about the way he was concentrating so intently at the screen that made him look both sexy and adorable at the same time. Getting her phone ready, she snuck up behind him. She stuck the phone in front of his face and kissed his cheek while pressing the circle to take the picture._

" _What are you doing?" He laughed, placing his laptop beside him._

" _We don't have any pictures together." She explained. "And you just looked too good right now to pass up the opportunity."_

" _Let me see it." He demanded._

" _No way!" She laughed. "You'll just delete it."_

" _You're damn right I will!"_

" _Then you're definitely not seeing it now." She shook her head and stuck her phone into her back pocket._

 _He stood up. "Rebecca, this isn't a game."_

" _Isn't it?" She smirked. "I have something you want."_

" _You have a lot that I want." He smirked. "But right now I just want the photo deleted."_

" _I can't do that." She shook her head._

" _You mean you won't do it." He started slowly walking towards her._

" _Same thing." She shrugged._

" _No, they aren't." He chuckled._

 _He was getting closer and closer to her. For every step he took towards her, she took a step back. She cursed herself when she realized she backed against a wall._

 _He smirked when he noticed she was trapped. "Give me your phone."_

" _No." She shook her head, keeping one hand on her phone that was resting in her back pocket._

" _Ok." He leaned in and kissed her gently._

 _She was aware of what he was doing. He was trying to distract her and she swore it wouldn't work. But that was before he started undoing her jeans and moving his hand down once the button was unhooked._

" _You're not playing fairly." She panted._

" _You should know by now I win at any cost." He whispered into her ear._

" _God, Harvey…" She whimpered as he increased the speed of his hand._

 _His free hand slid the phone out of her back pocket and slipped it into his own pocket. Once that was done he abruptly pulled his hand from her jeans and smirked at her._

" _Oh no you don't!" She shook her head at him. "You have to finish what you started." She dragged him into the bedroom._

 _A while later they were in bed together. "You took my phone, didn't you?" She asked._

" _Yeah." He laughed. "I did." He detangled himself from her and got up to find his pants. A few moments later he had her phone in his hands._

" _Please don't delete it." She asked._

" _It means that much to you?" He asked, getting back into bed and staring at her._

" _Well, yeah." She answered. "Of course it does."_

" _Here." He handed the phone back._

" _Thank you." She smiled, leaning over to kiss him._

She loved that picture because he looked so surprised and caught off guard. He looked vulnerable, and if she was honest he was at his sexiest when he was vulnerable. It didn't happen often, but at least she had photographic proof that it happened at least once.

The other picture was also a favorite of hers. It was taken at Mike and Rachel's wedding. He was dressed up in his tux and she was in a long, fancy dress. They were dancing and she was in his arms. They were staring at each other and the look on his face made her feel so special.

While she had waited for those words to come out of his mouth for a long time, so much had happened between them. She could stay here, but she wouldn't be able to get a job. She could go to London and have a job but not have Harvey.

She threw out having a long distance relationship as a last resort because she knew asking him to go to London with her wasn't an option. He had Mike, Donna and the firm counting on him. There was no way he would leave New York City and them behind.

But could she stay? He finally admitted he loved her. That had to mean something. Right? She sighed as she stared at the pictures she had of him.

He told her that he was better now and wouldn't lash out at her when things went wrong. But as soon as things went wrong with them, he gave her an ultimatum and said they were done if she went to London.

A knock on the door took her out of her reverie and she hurried over to answer it. She wanted so badly for it to be Harvey. So when she realized it was Donna, she couldn't help but be slightly disappointed.

"Donna. Hey." She greeted.

"You know, I know it is none of my business but what the hell are you thinking?" Donna asked, pushing her way through the door.

Rebecca looked at her friend and closed the door. "What do you mean?"

"Last night you dropped the bombshell that you are moving to London."

"Yeah." She nodded. "And?"

"Your life is here." Donna pointed out. "Your friends and Harvey are here."

"I don't have to tell you that Harvey is a complicated man…"

"No. I know. He's the most complicated man but also strangely the least complicated man in the world." Donna agreed. "And he loves you. You have to know that by now."

"Love doesn't necessarily mean happiness."

"You know, at this point I'm not sure you love Harvey as much as you say you do."

"How dare you say that to me." Rebecca scoffed.

"You are running away. What else am I supposed to think?" Donna pointed out. "You finally have him standing in front of you willing to admit how he feels and you throw it back in his face."

"What am I supposed to do?" She asked. "No one will hire me. And besides, I started looking for a job in England right after Harvey broke up with me. I'm lucky they are still offering me the job after what happened with Xavier."

"Like I said, you're running away."

"And what is so wrong with that?" She asked, aware that she was sounding more and more defensive.

"You shouldn't be running away. You should be fighting. Fight for Harvey…fight for your job…fight for your life back…just fight for something!"

"I'm tired of fighting." She admitted softly. "I feel like that's all I've done for a long time now. It's exhausting."

"I know." Donna nodded. "You've had a lot happen to you lately. But you need to take your head out of your ass. You are here. Harvey is here. You both love each other. Don't run away from that. If you really wanted to find a job here, you would make it happen because you're just like Harvey in that way. You both make the impossible happen. I'll stop lecturing you now. It's just that I don't want to see you give up and I definitely don't want to see you move across the ocean." Donna sighed. "But I suppose a good friend would at least ask what firm you're going to be at now. So where are you going?"

"I'm going to Darby International." She smiled.

"No." Donna shook her head. "Darby as in Edward Darby?"

"You've heard of him?"

"Yeah." Donna nodded. "Listen, you really can't go to London and work for him."

"Why not?"

"Edward Darby is bad news."

"He's giving me a chance to practice law when everyone else is slamming the door in my face." She argued.

"But the only reason he's doing that is to stick it to Harvey and Jessica." Donna pointed out.

"I don't understand what the one has to do with the other." She shrugged.

"If you don't believe me, then ask Harvey or Jessica."

Rebecca watched as Donna left without saying another word.

She suddenly knew what she had to do.

* * *

"Rebecca!" Jessica greeted with a smile. "If you are looking for Harvey, I don't know where he is or if he is even still here."

She shook her head. "I was actually looking for you. Do you have a minute to talk?" She came by late in the evening, at a time she knew Harvey would no longer be there. Thankfully Jessica was still there.

"Of course." Jessica nodded, motioning to the couch. She went over and sat down. "What brings you by?"

"Because of what happened I've had issues finding a firm here that will take me on. I had a job offer in London before this started. Surprisingly, they are still willing for me to join them." She told the woman.

"Congratulations on that." Jessica smiled.

"I mentioned the name of the firm to Donna and she freaked out. She said that I shouldn't trust the man who hired me and that I should ask you or Harvey why. And since I'm Harvey's least favorite person right now, I need to ask you what's going on."

"Ok." Jessica nodded. "I'll be happy to help if I can. What firm hired you?"

"Darby International. Donna says that Edward Darby only hired me to stick it to you and Harvey. Is that true?" She looked at the expression on Jessica's face and knew that Donna was telling the truth.

"I'm afraid so."

"Shit." She scoffed. "Why?"

"We merged with Edward Darby a few years ago." Jessica explained. "It didn't last for too long and it ended badly when we dissolved our merger. There were feelings of resentment and anger on both sides of the table. It wouldn't surprise me if Edward Darby is trying to get you over to London as a screw you gesture to Harvey."

She took a moment to absorb that information. "Sometimes it seems like every time I turn around there's some landmine I step in because of him."

"I'm sorry to have to be the one to tell you about Edward Darby." Jessica apologized.

"It's ok." She shook her head. "To be completely honest, I don't really want to move to London anyway."

"Why not?" Jessica questioned.

"It's not just because it is miles away from Harvey, if that's what you are thinking."

"I wouldn't judge you even if it was the reason." She smiled.

"I don't want to have to move to another country and start over there. I liked the life I had here, before this whole mess started. I came to this city because I was running away from tough situations in LA instead of dealing with them head on. But now I'm facing a tough situation again and my answer is to run away again."

"But a good friend pointed out to me that's not a good answer to tough situations and I don't want to run away anymore. I don't want to be that weak person who starts a new life every time things get too rough. I wanna fight. I wanna fight to regain my good reputation in this city. I wanna fight to demand respect from everyone. And I sure as hell wanna fight to make sure every damn firm that rejected me regrets it. The problem with that is there isn't a firm in this city who is willing to hire me. So I need to figure something out."

"Does Harvey know you are here?" Jessica asked after being quiet for a moment.

"No." She shook her head. "I haven't spoken to him since last night when he told me we were through forever if I moved to London."

"Let me talk to some of the other partners and see if I can get them on board with this." Jessica replied with a smile.

"On board with what?" She was now confused.

"Hiring you as our new senior partner." Jessica replied. "Give me a day or two and I'll get back to you."

"But I…"

"You don't want to work here?" Jessica chuckled.

"No, it's not that." She shook her head. "I just…that's not why I came here tonight."

"I know." Jessica nodded. "But you are a damn good lawyer. You're the only one I've ever seen truly beat Harvey. You've been beyond loyal about the Mike situation and you don't deserve to be caught up in the bad blood between Edward Darby and this firm. Those are all very good reasons to try and make a spot for you here."

"Thank you Jessica."

"Don't thank me yet. I haven't done anything." Jessica warned. "But let me see what I can do."


	42. Chapter 42

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Two

The next day, Harvey saw Donna get up from her desk and come in. "I don't want to talk about it." He saw her expression and knew what she was going to talk about.

Rebecca.

He still couldn't believe that she was planning on leaving the country. He was so certain that they were going to be able to work through their problems.

But apparently he was wrong.

"Harvey…"

"I don't want to hear it." He shook his head before moving his attention back to his laptop.

"I know you don't want to hear it but…"

"Don't defend her to me right now." He argued, interrupting her. Yesterday she came in and tried to defend Rebecca to him, saying he needed to think about things from her perspective. He didn't care about her perspective right now.

"I wasn't going to." She held up her hands in surrender. "I was merely going to say that I think both of you need to get your heads out of your asses if you are ever going to get back together."

"Donna…"

"She is obviously scared. Have you talked to her since that night?"

"No." He shook his head. It wasn't because he didn't want to talk to her. He desperately wanted to go over to her place and try to work this stuff out. But a combination of pride and fear stopped him every time.

"So you're just going to let her get away? You aren't going to fight for her? How hard did you fight for her that night?"

"I fought!" He argued, looking over at his friend. "But she doesn't want to stay. She made that perfectly clear by taking that job without even mentioning it first. It was a complete shock."

"And why do you think she did that?" Donna questioned.

"Because she wants to leave."

"Because she knew you would try to talk her out of it and convince her to stay. And she knew you would succeed." Donna corrected him. "I swear, sometimes I wonder if you have any basic knowledge of human psychology at all."

"Ok." He sighed, giving up because he knew Donna wasn't going to leave him alone until she said everything she wanted to say. "Oh wise and all-knowing Donna, what should I do now?"

"It's simple." Donna answered with a smirk. "Fight harder for her. And before you say anything else, I know you say you fought. And I know you have been really trying to be different with her. But just don't give up on her. She hasn't left yet and there is still time to change her mind."

"I shouldn't have to convince someone not to leave me."

She chuckled. "You know, Rebecca said the same thing to me after you broke up with her. Who knows what would have happened if she had fought harder then. Things could have been completely different for you two and maybe you both wouldn't be as miserable as you are right now."

* * *

"Jessica." Rebecca was surprised when the woman appeared on her doorstep. "Hi."

"May I come in?"

"Of course." She nodded and stepped to the side. "Would you like something to drink?"

"No thank you." Jessica replied. "I just wanted to come by so I could tell you in person that as of now you are the newest senior partner of Pearson Specter Litt."

"Really?" She wasn't sure that Jessica would be able to convince everyone to let her join the firm. One look at the woman's face told her the truth. "You're not joking."

"No. It is official as soon as you sign this contract." Jessica replied, handing a packet to her. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." She smiled. "But how did you manage to get Harvey and the other senior partners to agree to this?"

It was Jessica's turn to smile. "To be honest, I haven't have a chance to bring it up to Harvey. I thought it would be better to surprise him with it. But don't worry. I have enough support from the other senior partners that even if he wanted to, there is no way Harvey can block it. I found a way around Harvey in the by-laws thanks to Louis, who by the way was happy to do it so you could come join us."

"Ok." She nodded. It would be weird just showing up at the office tomorrow without Harvey knowing about it first. She wondered if she should tell him, or maybe she could tell Donna and have her break the news. Or she could just surprise them.

She noticed Jessica was staring at her.

"Is there something wrong?" Jessica asked.

"No." She shook her head. "There's nothing really wrong. I just…I don't know how to thank you enough. From what you said, taking the job with Edward Darby would have been a colossal mistake. And now you're giving me a second chance when no one else around here will. I really appreciate this."

"My firm…Harvey, Louis, Mike…all of us are like this big dysfunctional family. We take care of our own. And no matter what happens between you and Harvey, I think you have more than proved you are part of our family. Now it's just time to make it official. Besides, it was no secret how well you did at your old firm. I have no doubt you'll be able to give Harvey a run for his money on billings."

"I'll do my best." She smiled before looking over the contract. It was pretty standard with a non-compete clause and a $500,000 buy-in she would have no issue with paying. The pay scale seemed fair and there was the standard signing bonus. Everything looked good so she walked over to her desk, grabbed a pen and signed. Then she walked back over and handed it to Jessica.

"Wonderful." Jessica smiled. "Now that it is official, I can tell you that your new office is the one right next to Harvey's. Your first case is waiting on your desk for you and I'll see you tomorrow."

Jessica left without giving her a chance to react to any of her statements.

She chuckled when she realized she was going to be working so close to Harvey. Well tomorrow would be interesting.

* * *

Harvey stepped off the elevator the next morning to find Donna waiting for him. "What's going on?" Donna never usually waited for him at the elevator unless something important was going on and it couldn't wait. After everything that had happened lately, his mind immediately went to the place where something must be wrong.

"There's something I think you need to see, but I can't fully explain it so don't even ask me to try." She told him.

"What are you talking about?" He sighed, not up for her riddle. "You usually know everything about everything."

"Well there is a first time for everything. Just follow me." Donna told him, leading him down the hallway towards his office. "Here. This is what I am talking about." She pointed to the office next to his.

He studied the name on the door. _Rebecca Monroe Senior Partner_. It made no sense to him. He knew one person it would make sense to though and stormed down the hallway.

"What the hell is going on?" Harvey yelled as he entered Jessica's office.

"What do you mean, Harvey?" Jessica sighed.

"I mean, why does the office next to mine have Rebecca's name on it?" He asked.

"It has her name on it because it is her office." Jessica replied.

"Is that some kind of sick joke? Because it isn't funny and I want it removed right now."

"It isn't a joke and I'm not removing it." Jessica replied, standing up. "Rebecca came to see me a couple of nights ago asking about her new employer."

"So how did the conversation go from her new firm to getting her a job here?"

"The firm in London that hired her was Darby International." Jessica told him.

"Son of a bitch." Harvey muttered. "I should fly to London and kick his ass."

"While I wouldn't mind seeing that, I'm not sure that's the most productive use of your time." She pointed out. "You know that nothing good would have come from her taking a job with him. She would be nothing but a pawn to Edward."

"I know." He sighed.

"So I thought about it and realized that anyone who can go up against you and win is a valuable asset, no matter what the court of public opinion might think about them right now. And you were right. We do owe her one for her discretion with Mike. We also couldn't let her be used by Edward. So I convinced the other partners to hire her."

"You're telling me you did all of that without asking me first?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

"I'm a name partner, Jessica. I assume you talked to Louis about it."

"I did." She nodded.

"Shouldn't you have also brought this up to me before you did it?" He asked.

"Are you saying now you suddenly don't want her to work here?" Jessica asked. "A couple of days ago I remember you sitting in this exact office hounding me about finding a place for her."

"I'm not saying that. Of course I want her here." He told her. "I just…it's complicated. A little warning would have been nice."

"Well you better find a way to make it less complicated immediately since you will be working in such close proximity every day." Jessica demanded.

He knew what Jessica was doing. She gave Rebecca the office next to him so maybe they could work out their personal issues. It was clever. "Thank you Jessica."

"You're welcome Harvey." Jessica smiled.

* * *

"So you're really staying?" Donna asked.

Rebecca saw her friend standing outside her office door as she came in for the day and nodded. "I'm staying. You were right about Edward Darby."

"I usually am right." Donna chuckled.

"You were also right about a lot of the other things you said."

"The world would be a better place if people would realize that more often."

"Have you seen him yet?" Rebecca asked in a lower tone as she went to sit behind her new desk.

"He saw the office and walked off. I assume to talk to Jessica." Donna replied.

"Was he mad?"

"Shocked is probably a better word."

She smiled at her friend. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For reminding me that I shouldn't give up."

"You would have figured it out yourself, at some point." Donna brushed it off. Then she saw Harvey heading down the hallway. "Incoming." She said before ducking away.

Rebecca opened a file and pretended to be reading it. A few moments later she heard a knock on the doorframe. She looked up and saw Harvey leaning up against her door.

"You decided London wasn't for you after all?" He asked.

She smiled. "I couldn't get past the fish and chips thing. Just call fries what they are instead of having a different name. It seemed too pretentious for me."

He came into her office and sat down across from her. "Jessica told me everything. I'm sorry about your job offer."

"It's ok." She figured Jessica would tell Harvey about it now. Honestly she was surprised that Donna didn't say anything to him about it. But she guessed that the redhead had her reasons.

"She did." He nodded. "It's not fair to you that you got caught in the crossfire again because of me and I'm sorry."

"Harvey…" She sighed. "It's not really your fault."

"Still…" He trailed off. "We probably should talk."

"Probably." She nodded. "But not right now please. Jessica just threw the Donaldson Trucking case at me and I want to make a good impression. She's stuck her neck out for me by bringing me here and I don't want to let her down."

"Do you want any help?"

"I appreciate it but no. I need to do this myself."

"Ok." He could understand the desire to prove your worth.

"Can we talk later tonight?" She offered.

"Sure." He gave her a small smile. "We can talk and we toast the end of your first day here."

"Sounds good." She nodded.

* * *

That afternoon, Rebecca stood in the courtroom. She had just won a motion for the Donaldson Trucking case. Her other motion to get the case thrown out would be heard tomorrow morning after the judge had a chance to read it more closely and it felt good to be a lawyer in a courtroom instead of a defendant. She was packing her stuff up when the lawyer for the other side approached her.

"You may have won this motion but there is no way in hell you will get Judge Hernandez to throw this case out tomorrow morning."

"And why is that, Toland?" He was a lawyer that she had gone up against a few times before and she knew that he was jerk.

"Two reasons." He scoffed. "Because your client's case has no merit, and there is no way that Judge Hernandez will side with a murderer."

She wasn't prepared for that kind of personal jab and it hurt. Taking a moment to collect herself, she made sure she was standing straight. "First of all, I'm not a murderer. Second, my client's case has enough merit that even if I was a murderer Judge Hernandez would still have no choice to dismiss this case." She grabbed her stuff. "So if you'll excuse me, I have to go because I'm allergic to idiots and you're giving me hives right now."

She walked out of the courtroom with her head held up high. Once she got into the restroom she put her stuff down on the counter and leaned over the sink. If this was how things were going to be from now on, work was going to be exhausting.


	43. Chapter 43

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Three

Harvey stood in the doorway of Rebecca's office, watching as she typed furiously on her laptop. He enjoyed watching her work. It reminded him of the weekends they would spend at his place. Both of them on the couch, each typing briefs or notes for depositions. They would look over at each other from time to time and smile. Eventually one of them would put their laptop down and they would take a break from work to either make out or have sex.

"Is there something I can help you with or are you just going to stare at me all night?" Rebecca asked without looking up from her work. "I'm starting to feel like one of those animals on those nature shows where the hunter stalks its' prey."

He laughed and entered her office. "Sorry. I was just wondering if you were ready to have that drink with me in my office to celebrate your first day."

He watched as she looked up at him. She nodded.

"Ok." She closed her laptop and got up.

He let her go first into his office, partially because he was trying to be a gentleman and partially because he always liked to watch her walk. When they got to his office he got the drinks ready and handed one to her.

"To your first day at Pearson Specter Litt." He held up his glass.

"Thanks." She smiled.

"So how was your first day? How do you like it here so far?" He asked.

"It was alright." She nodded. "I think I'll like it here."

"That didn't sound very enthusiastic." He pointed out. "Did something happen here?"

"No. Everyone here has been great." She sighed. "It was just something at court this afternoon. It's nothing I can't handle though."

He watched as she downed the whole drink in one long gulp. She only did that when she was upset. "Want to talk about it?"

"Not really." She chuckled and then pointed to the bottle. "Do you mind if I have another?"

"You don't ever have to ask. You can have whatever you want." He told her, watching as she poured herself a second drink.

She walked over to the window and sat on the counter next to where his basketballs were displayed. "I guess I'm just now realizing how difficult it will be in some ways to stay here."

"What happened today?" He asked again, hoping she would tell him this time.

"It doesn't matter." She shook her head and looked at him.

"It obviously does though because it is upsetting you." He argued.

"I encountered someone who thought they should try to rattle my confidence by bringing up the murder charges and calling me a murderer. And although I knew what they were doing, it still worked. It's stupid. I should have been better prepared for that."

"That isn't something you should have to be prepared for." He sighed, walking over to where she was. "I'm sorry."

"It's just the way things are." She told him as she sat down her glass.

"Who was it?" He thought maybe if he found out who said those things to her, he could make them stop and regret it.

"It doesn't matter." She looked over at him.

"It does to me."

"While I appreciate it, I don't need you to fight my battles for me. I'll be fine. I just have to be on guard more when I go to court or deal with other lawyers." She explained.

"I'm sorry you have to go through this." He apologized again. "If it makes you feel any better, I'm sure it won't be too much longer before someone else gets involved with a scandal and everyone forgets about this."

"Great." She laughed. "Now I just have to wish someone else becomes the brunt of all the jokes."

"Knowing this city I'm sure it won't take too long." He pointed out.

She scoffed lightly and downed the rest of the second drink. "I'm sorry. I don't mean to be in such a bad mood. It just bothered me more than I thought it would."

"It's alright." He assured her, watching as she put the glass down on the table and came back over to the window. They stood there together quietly for a few minutes.

"Are we ever going to stop dancing around the real issue we need to talk about?" He finally asked. "Now that you are staying, what does that mean for us?"

"I'm not sure what you want me to say." She whispered. "I honestly don't know what it means anymore. So much has happened between us…so much has been said. I mean, you said you had changed but then you basically gave me an ultimatum about how we were through if I left. That wasn't very fair."

"No I guess it wasn't." He admitted. "But if we are keeping track of what is and isn't fair may I point out that you led me on these past couple of weeks? You led me to believe that you were at least open to maybe getting back together when the whole time you knew that there was a good chance that you were going to move across the ocean. Hell, we even slept together. Then you blindside me and say you're moving across the ocean. That wasn't fair either."

"You're right. You're completely right." She admitted. "I haven't been fair to you. And I'm very sorry. I know this is a cop-out. But I had a lot going on. I love you and I want to be with you, but there's something holding me back. I wish I could just let it go, jump into your arms and never let go. But I'm having trouble doing that." She pointed out. "And I didn't tell you about London because I wasn't sure how to tell you about it."

"So instead of telling me privately you just blurted it out in front of everyone." He sighed.

"I'm sorry about that." She apologized. "And I'm sorry I lead you on. It was not my intention."

"And I'm sorry about the ultimatum."

"I don't want to fight with you." She whispered.

"And I don't want to fight with you." He whispered back. "Let's play a game."

"A game?" She scoffed.

"Yeah." He nodded. "We each get one question that the other person has to answer with complete and total honesty. Alright?"

"Ok." She nodded.

He thought about it for a moment and then asked his question. "Did you stay because you found out that you new boss was another jerk, because Jessica got you a job or because you wanted to try again with me?"

She was quiet for a few moment. "I stayed because a good friend told me that I needed to get my head out of my ass."

"Donna got to you too?" He laughed.

"Of course she did." Rebecca smiled before continuing. "I was already second-guessing my move to London when Donna came over. When I found out about Darby, it made my decision to stay and fight that much easier. The fact that Jessica got me a job here was a bonus. I stayed because I want to try again with you, but if we are being completely honest I am scared."

"I know that things between us have been bumpy lately…"

"Bumpy is an understatement."

"But we are here…together…in the same city and the same firm. There is no criminal case hanging over our heads, no big obstacle in our way. The only thing left to do is figure out how we feel about each other. I know for me it is easy. I love you, Rebecca. I'm hoping you love me too."

"Of course I love you." She told him. "But it isn't that simple and you know it."

"It can be that simple." He argued.

She went and sat down on the couch, patting the seat next to her. Once he was sitting next to her she started talking again. "You're right about a lot of things. We're in the same city and the same firm. There's no longer a criminal case hanging over our heads. But we still have obstacles in our way."

"What obstacles?" He asked.

"How about me? I'm an obstacle."

"I don't understand."

She took a deep breath. "Look, I've loved you for a long time. You say you love me…"

"I do love you." He interrupted. "You have to believe that."

"Harvey, we have broken up more times than I care to count. Each time it hurts more and it leaves deeper scars. I can't go through that again right now, not when I'm trying to rebuild my professional life here."

"You really think we'll break up again?"

His voice was soft and she could tell that she had hurt him with her words. But it was the way she felt and he was the one who wanted to have this conversation right now. There really wasn't an easier way to say it.

"I think the odds are against us." She hated to admit it aloud. "Is it time for my question now?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"We got together because we were attracted to each other and had a one night stand. Once we got together we spent every night and every free moment together. We've just been building on a foundation of sex. If we were to get back together but take it incredibly slow and not have sex for a while, would that be ok with you?"

He wasn't expecting that kind of question. It threw him off. He looked at her face and saw that she was serious. "If getting you back in my life meant never having sex with you ever again, I would do it. But I don't see how that is supposed to help anything."

"There are a two of reasons for it." She explained. "I still can't seem to control myself around you, as evidenced by the last couple of times we ended up sleeping together even though it wasn't the right timing." She blushed. "And I should be able to control myself around you but I haven't figured that skill out yet."

"I don't think that's problem though.

"I do." She argued softly. "I have a lot of work to do to repair my reputation. You've always had this effect on me like a drug where I just crave you. If I'm going to make this job work I need to be able to focus clearly."

"What's the other reason?"

"I feel like sometimes our relationship has been primarily about the physical aspect. We kind of skipped over the 'getting to know you' stage of a relationship because we were busy having sex. We ended up having to play catch up on getting to know each other. I need to know that we aren't getting back together just because of the sex, but because we truly love each other."

"Ok…if that's what you are worried about…then marry me."

She looked at him like he had grown a second head and started to laugh. "C'mon Harvey…that's not the answer. That's the opposite of what I asked."

"Yes it is the answer." He argued. "C'mon. Marry me. That would prove that I love you."

She got up from the couch. "This is how I need it to be between us right now. If we get back together, I need us to take it slow for a little while. It's up to you to decide if that's something you can deal with. But it's late and I have court in the morning. So why don't you think about it and we'll talk about this again tomorrow?"

"Ok." He nodded.


	44. Chapter 44

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Four

Harvey passed Donna's desk without even looking at her. He wasn't in a great mood.

It didn't surprise him that Donna followed him.

"What's wrong with you today?" She asked.

"Just leave me alone Donna because I don't really feel like talking about it." At that moment he saw Rebecca come around the corner. She was typing something on her phone but as she passed his office she looked up and made eye contact with him. She gave him a small smile before she looked away and disappeared into her own office.

"Oh." Donna nodded. "I get it now. Something happened with Rebecca."

"She wants to know if I'll get back together with her but take it slower."

"She said that?" Donna asked.

"Yeah."

"So what's the problem? You want to get back together with her, right?"

"Of course I do!" He argued. "I just…It's just frustrating because she knows I love her and I think she is still in love with me too. But she just won't let me in all the way."

Donna laughed so hard she doubled over. He was not amused.

"What is so funny about that?" He asked.

"It's just so ironic." She explained between giggles. "For so long she was frustrated because you wouldn't let her in and now you are frustrated because she won't let you in."

"The irony isn't lost on me. However, I don't find it as funny as you do."

"I'm sorry." She stopped laughing and turned serious again. "I know you don't want to hear this, but she has been through a lot. You may just have to give her some time. I'm sure it isn't easy for her to go into court and face off with jerks."

"I know." He sighed. "She said something last night about people making comments about it to her."

"It rattled her." Donna volunteered. "I think it rattled her more than she wanted to let on."

"You may be right about that." He admitted.

* * *

Rebecca hung up the phone and sighed. She had been calling some of her old clients all afternoon to see if there was a chance they would like to follow her to Pearson Specter Litt, but so far none of them were interested. They were polite about it, but they all said no. She knew it had to be because of the murder charges. There was no telling what Florrick and James said to her clients after she got fired.

It was going to be problematic if she couldn't get any clients. When she first got to New York she had no problems getting new clients. But that was before her reputation took a hit. She wasn't sure she could have the same kind of success closing clients now.

There was a knock on her door and she saw Jessica standing there. "Hi." She greeted, putting on a fake smile.

"I just wanted to stop by and say congratulations for getting the Donaldson Trucking case dismissed. I just got off the phone with Jeff Donaldson. He was very impressed with how quickly you were able to get it done." Jessica said as she walked farther into the office.

"To be honest it wasn't that hard." She shook her head. "But I'm glad he was pleased."

"So here is the situation." Jessica paused. "This case was a sort of trial run for Donaldson Trucking. They haven't been happy with their firm for a while now. They came in last week and told me if they were happy with whoever handled this case, they would sign with us."

"That's good." She nodded.

"They want to sign with you."

"Me?" She scoffed. "Are you sure about that?"

"He was very clear about it on the phone. He wanted the one responsible for the victory. That was you."

"Yeah, but once he finds out…"

"It doesn't matter." Jessica assured her. "I already told him about it and he had no problems with it. He said that as long as you continued to work hard for him like you did on this case, he doesn't care what happens in your personal life."

"Really?" She couldn't believe that.

"He is sending over the signed paperwork by the end of the day." Jessica smiled. "Congratulations on signing your first new client here."

"Thank you." She smiled. Maybe this was the start of a turnaround. Maybe now that she could say she had one client, it would be easier to get more. Without thinking, she got up from her desk and walked out to see Harvey. She looked into his office to find it was empty. So she turned to Donna.

"He's in a client meeting in the conference room." Donna said, answering the unasked question.

"Oh." She nodded. "Ok."

"What did Jessica want?"

"I impressed the client so much he wants to sign with me." She smiled.

"That's great news." Donna smiled back.

"Yeah. I wanted to tell Harvey…but now I realize that sounds silly."

"Why does it sound silly?" Donna asked. "I get it. You got good news and you want to share it with the one you care about. That's not silly."

She saw Harvey strolling down the hallway towards his office. As soon as he saw her, he slowed his gait. "Hey." She greeted when he was close by.

"Hey." He greeted back. "Donna, do you mind getting me the files from the McCann merger we did two years ago?"

"Sure." Donna replied, getting up and heading to the file room.

She watched as he went into his office and followed him inside.

"What?" He questioned once he sat down and saw she followed him.

"I wanted to tell you I signed my first client." She smiled.

"That's good." He nodded.

"Harvey, can we talk?"

"I thought you said everything you wanted to say last night."

"I realize you aren't happy with what I suggested last night." She started.

"I can't say I agree with you." He pointed out. "I think it is fairly clear that our relationship isn't built solely on sex. But you do…"

"I feel like we started our relationship off the wrong way. And if we want this to last, we need to take it slower this time." She explained.

"Just tell me this…do you love me?"

Her face fell. "You really have to ask me that?"

"I kind of do." He nodded. "You were ready to leave me and go off to London to start a new life."

He watched as she came over to his chair and saw she motioned for him to stand up.

As soon as he did, she immediately threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself up against him.

"I'm so sorry for that." She whispered into his ear. "I'm sorry that it made you doubt my love for you. And I'm sorry that I'm asking you for this."

He grabbed on to her like a sinking man in the ocean would cling to a life preserver, enjoying the feel of having her in his arms.

"I do love you Harvey. I love you in a way I've never loved anyone before and I could never love anyone after. Please be patient with me."

He pulled away slightly so he could see her face. He could tell that she was sincere and kissed her forehead before pulling her close to him again.

"This is what you need right now?" He whispered.

"Yes." She whispered back.

"Then that's what we'll do. We'll go as slowly as you want."

She pulled away this time and placed a gentle kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

He watched her leave his office and sighed. That could have gone better, but it also could have gone worse. It was going to be difficult to take things slow when all he wanted to do was kiss her breathless every time she walked into the room.

He even proposed to her last night, though he realized she thought it was some kind of joke. But it wasn't a joke. He was serious. If he could, he would show her just how serious he was about it, but since they were taking things slow he couldn't do that. So the only thing left to do was bide his time until she felt more comfortable and realized he wasn't going anywhere.


	45. Chapter 45

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Five

Harvey stood outside Rebecca's door and took a deep breath. He was there to pick her up for their first real date since their break up and even though he didn't want to admit it, he was nervous. He took a deep breath. There really was nothing to be nervous about. He had been out with her before. But now the stakes seemed higher. Shaking his head, he knocked.

It didn't take her long to answer the door. She had changed from the outfit she wore to work today into a blue strapless dress that came down just above her knees. "Wow." He smiled. "You look beautiful."

"Thank you." She smiled back. "You look pretty handsome yourself."

He had changed out of his suit and put on black pants with a dark blue shirt because he knew it was one of her favorite shirts of his. "We kind of matched our clothes."

"Yeah." She chuckled. "I guess great minds think alike."

He brought his hand out from behind his back and showed her the single red rose he brought. "This is for you."

She took it and immediately smelled the flower. "That's sweet. Thanks." She then kissed his cheek.

"Are you ready to go?" He asked.

"Just let me grab my purse." She said, disappearing for a moment before reappearing. "Ok. Now I'm ready."

He held out his arm for her to take, glad when looped her arm with his. "I thought we could try a new place if you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all."

* * *

"Ok…" She laughed as they were almost done with their dinner. "Most embarrassing childhood story. Go!"

"Most embarrassing?" He chuckled. "Well there are a few that come to mind, but I don't know if I have one that could be considered the most embarrassing."

"C'mon. Everyone has a most embarrassing." She egged him on.

"Well why don't you start with yours?" He asked.

"Ok." She shrugged. "It was in the 6th grade. I made it to the final round of my schools' spelling bee championships. Everyone was there in the auditorium…students, teachers, parents…everyone except my dad of course. Anyway, I wasn't feeling great that day. But I still went to school and did my best in the spelling bee. I got up to spell the word 'unforeseeable' and right after I said the first e I proceeded to vomit…a lot. And it got everywhere."

"Everywhere?" He asked.

"Let's just say that the first two rows should have been warned they were in the splash zone." She closed her eyes for a moment. "It was not my finest moment."

"Wow."

She could see that he was barely keeping it together because he wanted to laugh at her story.

"That…certainly is embarrassing."

"Yes." She nodded. "But it does have a happy ending. After I threw up I felt much better and ended up winning the spelling bee."

At that point he couldn't contain it anymore and ended up laughing. "You still won?"

"What can I say?" She chuckled. "I wanted that trophy."

"You must have." He shook his head.

"So…now that I have told you mine, what is your most embarrassing story?" She asked, reminding him that it was now his turn to share.

"Alright." He sighed. "When I was eight, our little league team made it to the championships. It was towards the end of the game and I was up at bat. Right before I stepped into the batter's box I dropped my glove so I bent down to pick it up. That's when I heard a rip. I didn't realize it at the time but I ripped the seam in the back of my pants."

"Oh no." She groaned.

"Normally that wouldn't be a big deal because I'd be wearing underwear. But that day, for whatever reason, I had refused to put on underwear. So when I ran around the bases, everyone got a very good look at my bare butt."

She bit her lip to keep from laughing, but couldn't help it. It was too funny so she let out a short giggle. "I'm sorry. That is rough."

"I ended up with the name Harvey Naked for the next year within the little league." He shook his head. "It was not a good time for me."

She appreciated that he was telling her about it. Not much had been shared between them about their childhoods, except their individual issues with their respective parents. She thought it would be nice to trade stories. And it was both surprising and endearing that he was playing along with it, sharing things with her that she doubted he shared with others.

"So I have to know…did you win the championship that year?" She asked.

"Of course." He smirked. "And Harvey Naked was the MVP of the team."

She smiled.

"Now it's my turn." He told her. "Favorite childhood memory."

"That's a tough one." She said. "But I think I have to go with something that happened on a family vacation to Aspen when I was seven. Well it was supposed to be a family vacation but most of the time my dad was off skiing or having meetings with other people. He left my mom and I alone for a good chunk of time, but that was alright with us. We had a lot of fun. One afternoon we went out and built a snowman family. We took a bunch of extra hats and scarves and everything and we made this huge family. I think there were at least six or seven snowmen, each ranging in size."

She smiled at the thought of the memory. "And when we were done, we had someone walking by take a picture of us in front of the snowman family."

She noticed he was deep in thought about something.

"So that's where that picture hanging up in your living room is from!"

She was surprised that he noticed and then remembered that picture being in her living room. To be honest, she never thought he paid that much attention to it.

"Yeah." She nodded. "I love that picture."

"You were a very cute kid." He smiled. "But I don't mean that in a creepy way…just that if I had met you as a kid too, I would have thought you were cute."

"I knew what you mean." She chuckled. "I'd say the same about you but I don't think I've ever seen a picture of young Harvey Naked."

He groaned. "I'm going to regret telling you that nickname, aren't I?"

"No." She laughed. "I'll let it die after tonight."

"To be honest, I don't have many pictures of myself from my childhood. I would assume my mom has them all." He explained. "But I can look and see sometime if I have any stashed away somewhere."

"That would be nice." She smiled. "So what is your best childhood memory?"

"That's an easy one." He smiled. "It's the first time my dad let me go into the studio with him while he recorded an album. I was ten and I'd been asking to go with him for years but he always said I wasn't old enough. So one day I was out in the backyard with Marcus and our dad comes up. He says I need to get into the car or else we'll be late. I asked him for what but he refused to tell me."

"After a half hour later we pull up to the recording studio. I'll never forget what he said to me. He said 'Son, it doesn't matter what you decide to become when you grow up. You can do anything and be anything. The only thing that does matter is if you are happy with what you do. Passion for your job is essential because if you are passionate you will be successful.'"

"That's good advice." She said.

"Yeah." He agreed. "He took me inside and I got to watch as he recorded several songs that day."

"Which album was it?" She asked out of curiosity.

"Muddy Blues." He answered.

"Is that why it is your favorite?" She asked.

"I've never told you it was my favorite."

"It's the one you play the most." She pointed out. "And you get this huge smile on your face when you put the record on. It wasn't hard to put two and two together."

"You think you know me so well, don't you?" He teased.

"I know I do." She laughed. She looked and saw they were both done with their meal now. "Do you want to share a dessert?"

He smirked at her.

"What?" She laughed. "What is the smirk for?"

"Every time we go out to dinner you ask if I want to share a dessert. And every time I say yes but then I mysteriously only get one or two bites of said dessert, while you get the rest." He explained.

"You think you know me so well, don't you?" She teased, using his earlier words.

"I know I do." He winked, also using her words.

* * *

About a half hour later they were walking down the street together. It was a nice night and there was an unspoken agreement between them that neither wanted the evening to end. So instead of calling Ray to pick them up so he could take her home, they decided to walk around and talk some more.

As soon as they exited the restaurant, Rebecca grabbed a hold of his hand. She had looked at him hesitantly, as if silently asking if it was alright. So he smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Honestly, if she hadn't grabbed a hold of his hand, he would have grabbed a hold of hers.

They had walked about a block and a half before she poked his in the shoulder. "We should go in here."

He looked at where she was pointing. It was a jazz club call The Hotspot. "You sure?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Can we go in?"

"Sure." He was always ready to listen to jazz music and it would extend the evening, giving him more time with her.

"C'mon then!" She exclaimed, practically dragging him inside.

* * *

"This was fun." She told him as they approached her door. They had stayed at the jazz club for a couple of hours. She enjoyed the company as well as the location.

"It was fun." He smiled.

"We should do this again soon." She smiled.

"I'm free any day of the week." He chuckled.

"How about Saturday night?" She suggested.

That was two days away. At least he would still see her at work. "Saturday works perfectly."

"Good." She kissed him on the cheek. "Because now it's my turn to choose what we do."

"We're taking turns?" He was amused by her new rule.

"Yup." She nodded. "So be prepared to have fun."

He leaned in to whisper into her ear. "I'm always ready for fun."

"Goodnight Harvey." She playfully rolled her eyes.

"Goodnight Rebecca." He waited until she went inside and closed her door before leaving.


	46. Chapter 46

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Six

The next day, Rebecca went out to lunch with Donna.

"How was your date with Harvey?" Donna asked.

"It was good." She couldn't help but smile.

"I figured as much when Harvey seemed like he was in a good mood too."

"We had fun." She explained. "I honestly can't remember the last time I was able to relax and just enjoy his company like that. It's been quite a while."

"Good." Donna nodded. "I'm glad. It's nice to see the two of you happy for once."

"Now I just have to figure out exactly what we are doing on Saturday night. I told him it was my turn to plan the date and kind of implied that I already had an idea. But I have nothing so far."

"You can't go wrong doing something he likes." Donna suggested.

She suddenly knew what they should do. "Donna, you're a genius."

"I know." Donna gloated jokingly.

"I'm going to need your help though."

"Just let me know what you need and I'll get it done." Donna smiled.

* * *

"So why exactly is the blindfold necessary?" Harvey chuckled as they rode in the back of his car. "And why did you hand Ray a piece of paper?"

"It's all a part of the surprise." She told him. "You'd be able to figure out what we are doing if you heard or saw where we are going."

"You know I'm not a huge fan of surprises." He warned.

"I know. But trust me. You'll like this one." She promised. "Besides, we are here." She got out of the car first and then helped Harvey get out without hurting himself. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." He nodded.

She took the blindfold off. "What do you think?"

He looked at where they were. Yankee Stadium. "They aren't playing a game tonight."

"No. I know." She laughed. "They are at an away game."

"So why are we here if there isn't a game?"

"Because I thought that maybe you might want hit some balls in Yankee Stadium and pretend you are a professional baseball player." She explained.

"We can actually go on their field?" He was having a hard time understanding how she did all of this.

"Yes." She nodded.

"How?"

"Oh…Did I forget to mention that I signed the General Manager of the Yankees as a client yesterday?" She smirked.

"You didn't…" He argued, seeing the serious look on her face. "You did?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "He needed a divorce attorney and I needed a favor."

"You signed him just so you could ask for this for me?" He had to know.

"It's possible." She winked. "I know it seems silly. I just wanted to do some kind of grand gesture for you after everything that's happened. I thought you would enjoy it."

"I love it." He told her. The fact that she was willing to go to such great lengths to plan a date for him made him want to go over, kiss her and never let her go. But since they were taking things slow, he just kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

He laughed. "So we can actually go onto the field?"

"Yeah." She nodded again. "C'mon. Let's go."

* * *

A few minutes later they were standing on the field of Yankee Stadium. He spun around, trying to take it all in. "This is incredible."

"I'm glad you like it." She smiled. "So we have everything we should need all set out. There is a pitching machine on the mound and bats. When we're done, there is a concession stand open and we can grab some hot dogs for dinner."

"You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

"I tried to." She chuckled. "Though I have to admit Donna was a big help finding out who in the Yankees would be easiest to sign as a client."

He wasn't sure how she knew, but being able to hit in a major league ballpark was one of his dreams. Hell, even just getting to walk around on the field was a dream of his. It was one of the reasons why he went after Derek Jeter and signed him, but even then he wasn't able to come onto the field. But she made this all happen in just a couple of days.

Maybe she was right about slowing things down between them and taking the sex out of it.

"Do you want to hit first?" She asked, holding the bat out to him.

"Do you mind?" He wanted to make sure it was ok with her that he went first. Normally he would let her because his father always taught him ladies first.

"I'll go get the machine ready." She smiled, heading to the pitcher's mound. She turned on the machine and walked back over to him since it would take about a minute for the machine to warm up and start pitching.

"Just to warn you, I haven't done this in a while." He cautioned. "I may be a little rusty."

She chuckled. "That's alright. I'm just going to stand back and enjoy the show."

He laughed, focusing on the balls from the pitching machine. He missed the first one, but then consistently hit the rest of them.

He looked over at her when he heard her clapping.

"You did well." She smiled.

"No home runs." He smiled. "But I think I did alright."

"Do you want to reset the machine and go again?"

"Did you want a turn?"

"I'm not that good." She chuckled.

"Give it a try." He suggested.

"Ok." She took the bat from him as he went to go refill the pitching machine. He turned it on and came back over to her. "Is this how you do it?" She asked.

He looked at her batting form and chuckled. "Not even close." He called her over to where he was so they wouldn't get hit by the pitching machine. "Stand here with your feet about shoulder width apart." He then went and stood behind her. "You'll want to slightly bend at the waist and the knees. You're grip on the bat is right so don't worry about that."

"It's good to know I got something right." She laughed.

"Keep your elbow up in the back and keep your front shoulder slightly turned in." He carefully moved her around so that she was in the right stance. "Then just keep your eye on the ball and swing when it gets close. It's as easy as that. Do you want to try?"

"Yeah." She turned her head and kissed him on the cheek. "Thank you."

He watched as she went into the batter's box. She did everything he told her about, even adding a kick of her front leg as she leaned into the swing, sending the ball flying into center field.

"Like that?" She smirked at him.

"You've done this before." He accused her playfully.

She hit another ball, this time sending it into left field. Then she turned to him. "I may have played softball in middle school…and high school."

He laughed. She had played him. "Why did you bother having me teach you?"

She hit another one into left field. "I just wanted to see how good you were at teaching. Turns out you are a pretty good teacher."

He smiled as he watched her hit the rest of the pitches. "You did well."

"It's all thanks to my batting coach." She smirked.

* * *

After they each hit some more from the pitching machine, they went to the concession stand and got a bunch of food. They had hot dogs, beer, nachos, fries, and popcorn. They gathered everything up and went to sit in the Yankee's dugout.

"So after this, do you still not like surprises?" She asked before eating her hot dog.

"I'm warming up to surprises…when they come from you." He admitted. "This has been one of the best surprises I've ever had. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

"You didn't have to go to this much trouble though." He pointed out.

"I wanted to." She assured him. "The other night was wonderful. I loved being able to just let go and have fun with you. We hadn't been able to do that in what seemed like forever. And to be completely honest, it hurt a little when you had to ask if I loved you the other day. I completely understand it and I'm not hurt anymore. I just…I guess I wanted to show you that I'm sorry for the part I played in our issues and even though I asked for us to slow down I'm still serious about us."

"I'm serious about us too." He reached over and grabbed her hand and kissing it.


	47. Chapter 47

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Seven

"Before she left, Donna said you wanted to see me when I had a chance. I was finishing up some work on a deposition, but I'm done now. So what's up?" Rebecca asked as she entered Harvey's office.

"Yeah." He nodded, looking over at her. "I was wondering if you wanted to go get a drink with me tonight."

"Sure." She smiled. It had been a month since they agreed to take things slowly and not have sex. They saw each other every day at the office and usually went on dates two to three nights a week. It was kind of nice because they actually went out and did more things now. One night they went bowling. They had gone to new restaurants and even found a jazz club called "The Hotspot" that they like going to often.

The stares and comments in the courtroom had died down a little. There were some people who were still giving her grief. The other lawyers from her old firm were the worst. But for the most part people were starting to leave her alone about the incident with Xavier, having moved on to the newest scandal in the city.

Once she signed Donaldson Trucking, it was much easier for her to get more clients. She even broke her previous record for the number of new clients she signed in a month. The old number was 27. This time the number was 32.

That night Harvey took her out to dinner to celebrate. She knew it wasn't easy for him to take their relationship slow. It wasn't easy for her either. There were several times she wanted to say screw it and jump into bed with him. But she was glad she hadn't. They were now connected in a way they weren't before.

Things were starting to calm down in her life and she was glad. She felt like she was able to breathe again.

"Where do you want to go?" She asked.

"Doesn't matter to me." He shrugged. "Do you want to go to The Hotspot?'

"Yeah." She nodded. "That would be fun."

* * *

The walked into The Hotspot and found an open booth on the side. He let her go in first before scooting in, making sure he was as close to her as he could get. The past month had been interesting to say the least. It wasn't easy to be around her all day long in the office and not be able to go kiss her or touch her whenever he wanted. He also hated that he couldn't see her every night.

The no sex part wasn't pleasant either. It felt like he was constantly taking cold showers at night and again in the mornings. His dreams were explicit and very realistic, to the point where he had to remind himself that although it felt real, it was just a dream. She wasn't in bed with him. She was at her own place.

But as much as his body hated the no sex part, he had to admit the past month had been a lot of fun. They were doing things that never even crossed his mind before, activities that he hadn't done since college…like bowling and ice skating. In college he did those kinds of things because they would help him get laid. They weren't things he enjoyed doing.

But he enjoyed doing those things with Rebecca. No matter what they did or where they went, they ended up laughing a lot and having a great time.

This place was a good example of that. It had quickly became one of their favorite places. In the past month, they had already been here 6 times. This was number seven.

If he was completely honest with himself, he would admit that he was skeptical about why she felt they needed to slow things down. Now he understood why she wanted to slow things down. In some ways he had taken her for granted before. He assumed she would be at his place or he would be at hers every night and because of that assumption neither of them really tried to make their time together special. It just became a routine. And while a routine wasn't necessarily bad, it wasn't always good either.

Now he realized that his time with her was special.

After ordering their drinks she leaned into him, laying her head on his shoulder.

"How is the Mathias Industries merger going? Was Louis able to help you with the financials?"

"Yes. He was a big help. I think everything is settled now." She groaned. "But do we have to talk about work tonight?" She moved to look at his face. "We're out together listening to some jazz music. Let's just enjoy this without work seeping into the conversation for once."

"Ok." He laughed. "Though this is just mediocre jazz compared to my dad."

"I know." She wrapped her arms around his and went back to laying her head on his shoulder. "Everything on the 'Midwest Blues' album is better than this."

He loved that she knew all about his dad's music, even knowing the album names. She also appreciated the music. When they were together the last time she never seemed to mind that he liked to play it in the background often on the weekends.

"You know he would have loved you almost as much as I do." That was the first time in the past month that either of them had said the 'l' word. He said it without thinking. But it was true. If his dad was still around, he would have loved her and welcomed her into the family, just as Marcus and Katie did.

He couldn't see her face but he hoped he hadn't scared her off by saying it. Since they were going slow in their relationship, he hadn't told her he loved her. She hadn't done it either.

"It would have been nice to meet him." She still held on to his arm but pulled away so she could see his face. "I know how much he meant to you."

She didn't look too scared so he decided to push his luck. He put his hand underneath her chin and brought it up so he could kiss her. They hadn't kissed nearly as much as before during this past month. He craved the feeling of her lips on his. So when they made contact he felt like he was in heaven.

He started out gentle, letting his lips brush over hers slowly. Then he got a little more aggressive, surprised she wasn't stopping the kiss yet. He let his other hand wrap around her back, pulling her closer.

He only stopped the kiss when it became necessary to catch his breath. He took a look at her to see if she was mad. But she didn't look mad.

"Harvey…" She chuckled.

"I'm not going to apologize for the kiss."

"I didn't want you to. I…" It seemed like she was about to say something else when her phone went off. She sighed and picked it up.

"What happened to my dad?" She asked out-loud. "Donna just texted me that she hopes he is alright."

"I don't know." Harvey reached for his phone and did a search for Samuel Monroe. "Oh. Shit. He's been in a car accident."

"What?" She asked, looking at the article on his phone. "You're kidding."

"No. His car apparently got t-boned in Los Angeles on the way to the airport. The driver of the car that t-boned your father's car is dead, as well as the driver of his car. It looks like your dad is in the hospital in serious condition." He looked over at her. "I'm sorry."

"What are the odds this is happening again?"

"Yeah." He nodded. "Your mom and now him."

"Yeah."

"Do you want to go to LA and check on your dad? I can make the arrangements."

"No." She replied, suddenly calm. "I don't need to go."

"I know he definitely doesn't deserve it, but he is your dad." Harvey pointed out.

"No." She shook her head. "I'm done with him. I refuse to go back there and pretend that I care if he lives or dies. If the thing with Xavier hadn't happened when it did, I would have already turned him in for what he did to my mom. But if I turn him in now it's just going to start another scandal and I can't handle that right now since things are finally calming down." She sighed. "Look, can I take a raincheck on drinks? I should probably be alone tonight."

"No offense. But you're clearly upset and don't need to be alone tonight." He told her. "Why don't we just stay here a while longer?"

She thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Ok."

"Do you want to talk about it or not talk about it?" He asked.

"I don't feel like caring too much if he is ok or not. If that makes me a bad daughter, I'm prepared for that."

"It doesn't make you a bad daughter. He hasn't been a very good father to you."

"That's the understatement of the year." She laughed, before looking over at him. "Do you mind if we are just here together and listen to the music for a while?"

"I don't mind at all." He looked over at her and smiled.

She gave him a small smile. They sat there together, listening to the music as she put her head on his shoulder again.


	48. Chapter 48

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Eight

The next day, Rebecca was walking to her office when Jessica showed up next to her.

"What are you doing here?" Jessica asked.

"Working, like everyone else." She laughed. "Why?"

"Your dad…"

"I know." She interrupted her. "He was in a car accident yesterday."

"Shouldn't you be on your way to…"

"No." She interrupted her again. "I don't need to be there while he is in the hospital. It's a long story but we don't have a good relationship and I really don't see that changing anytime soon." She looked at Jessica's face and noticed her expression changed dramatically. "Why?"

"You don't know."

"Know what?" She asked slowly.

She ushered her into her office and closed the door. "It came over the AP newswire about a half hour ago. Your father's injuries in the car accident were more serious than they thought. He's dead. I'm so sorry to have to be the one to tell you that."

"What?" She stared at her while she continued to talk, but she had no idea what Jessica was saying. Her mind and her heart were racing. She never expected that her father would die like that. She shook herself out of the daze and focused on Jessica again.

"You can take as much time as you need to in order to deal with this. We'll help cover your clients." She offered.

"Thank you." She nodded, watching her leave. As soon as she was gone she leaned against her desk to take a few deep breaths. After a moment she took out her phone. There was only one person she wanted to talk to right now. It rang four times before he picked up.

"Hey. I actually can't talk right now. I'm about to go in to court." Harvey greeted. "I'll call you back after, ok?'

"Ok." She said quietly. She had no choice to wait until he was done with court to talk about this. It wouldn't be fair to tell him about her problems right before he had court. So she hung up. Two seconds later her phone rang again with a Los Angeles area code.

"Hello?" She greeted.

"Hello. Is this Rebecca Monroe?"

The female voice on the other end was pleasant sounding, but Rebecca didn't like her just because she knew what was coming out of her mouth next.

"Yes. This is she."

"My name is Grace Henkel. I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department and I'm calling about your father, Samuel Monroe."

"What about him?" Rebecca asked, playing dumb about the fact that Grace was about to tell her something that she already knew.

"I'm afraid he was in a car accident last night. He had some internal bleeding and a head injury. They had to go in and perform surgery to repair some of the damage to his spleen and I'm sorry to say there were some complications. Your father is dead." Grace explained.

"I see." Rebecca replied as calmly as possible. "Um…ok. Thank you."

"I have some information for you on where your father's body is and what the next steps are, if you are ready for that."

"Yeah." She answered, grabbing a pen and a piece of paper. "Go ahead…"

* * *

"Harvey, have you spoken to Rebecca?" Donna asked as soon as he got off the elevator with Mike right behind him.

"Have you been waiting here a long time just to ask me that?" He laughed.

"No. I had Ray text me when he dropped you off since you weren't answering your phone." She explained. "So have you spoken to her?"

"No." He shook his head. "She called right before I went into court to file the motion for the Boylan Industries case. I tried calling her after but it just went to voicemail. And I didn't answer my phone because I was on the phone with the client going over my next move with him. Why?"

Donna pulled out her phone and typed a couple of things before showing him the screen.

He read the headline of the article. _California Senator Samuel Monroe dead from car accident._

"Shit." He closed his eyes for a moment before shaking his head.

"I can't find her." Donna told him. "I had Rachel go over to her apartment but she wasn't there. And I've tried her cell phone but she isn't answering my calls either. I'm worried about her."

"Yeah." He was worried about her too. Although she said she didn't care if her father lived or died, that was still when she thought he was alive. Now that he was actually dead, it had to be a shock and a punch to her gut. The fact that she wasn't answering her phone meant she was most likely alone and she didn't need to be alone right now.

He pushed the down elevator button.

"Are you going to find her?" Donna asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. He wasn't sure where she was, but he would do his best to find her.

"Good luck." Donna smiled.

* * *

Rebecca stood in Harvey's office later that night, staring at the city. At night everything looked so peaceful. After she got off the phone with Grace she started making arrangements for her father's funeral. It was first funeral she had ever had to plan and she wasn't sure she had thought of everything. But she did her best. Then she called her father's office to get his secretary to help her with some of the arrangements she couldn't get to from New York. After everything was done, she left her office. She had to get out of the building so she started walking. It didn't take her long to end up in a park.

She found a bench and sat down, turning off her phone because it kept ringing. Since the calls weren't from the one person she wanted to talk to, she didn't care. It wasn't until it started getting dark that she realized she had been there for hours. She decided to take a cab back to the office. Instead of going to her office, her feet took her into Harvey's office. She expected to see him sitting at his desk. But now that she looked at the time, she realized he probably was already at home.

Briefly she wondered if he even knew what was going on. She probably should call him again. That's when she realized she never turned her phone back on. She pulled it out and powered it back up. Once it rebooted she saw she had over 100 text messages and 57 calls.

She heard someone's footsteps and turned to see Mike.

"Hey." He greeted.

"Hey." She greeted back. "Harvey isn't here."

"I know. I'm just dropping this off for him." He put a file on the desk. "He's actually still out looking for you."

She looked at Mike like he had grown a second head. "What?"

"He left a few hours ago trying to find you after he got back from court and Donna told him what happened with your father." Mike explained. "I am sorry by the way about what happened."

"Thanks." She gave him a small smile. "He's really out looking for me right now?"

"Yeah." He nodded.

"I just needed some time." She explained. "This is the second parent I've lost to a car accident."

"I'm sorry. I didn't know about your mom."

"It happened when I was ten."

"I know how that feels and I wouldn't wish it on anyone." He told her. "Both of my parents died in a drunk driving accident when I was eleven. It's rough."

"Yeah. It is." She nodded. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"Thanks."

"So I'm officially an orphan now." She laughed nervously.

"Welcome to the club." Mike laughed.

"Are there a lot of meetings?" She asked. "Because I don't know if I can make it to many."

"No." He shook his head. "There's just a weekly newsletter that we send to your email."

She laughed again. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I needed to laugh. So thank you." She explained. "But if Harvey is looking for me, I should probably go let him know where I am."

"I might have already done that before I came in here." Mike confessed.

"Thanks Mike." Harvey said from the doorway.

"And that's my cue to leave." Mike said, giving her a smile before leaving the office.

"Hey." She greeted. "I'm sorry. I turned off my phone and I didn't know you were out looking…"

Before she could finish that statement he came over and gave her a hug. She stopped talking and wrapped her arms around him as if he was a life preserver. As much as she had convinced herself that she wasn't going to cry in front of him or cry about her father's death at all, she couldn't control it and started to sob.

He gently guided her to his couch and let her curl up next to him, placing her head in his lap. He stroked her hair as she cried.

It was a weird feeling sobbing around him and having him comforting her. She knew that he wasn't a huge fan of emotions, but he was letting her cry it out with no judgment.

And the fact that he went looking for her today meant a lot to her.

She wasn't sure how long she cried, but after a while she felt like she had come to a stopping point. She raised her head and tried to wipe the remaining tears from her face. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to be sorry about." He told her, using his left hand to wipe some tears from her face.

"I didn't know you were out looking for me." She explained. "If I had known, I would've…"

"I know." He interrupted her. "I just didn't want you to have to be alone."

She reached over and placed a soft kiss on his lips. "Thank you."

"You don't have to thank me." He shook his head. "How are you doing?"

"I hated him." She stated. "I truly hated him for everything he did and everything that he said to me. I don't understand why I'm so shaken by this."

"At the end of the day, he was your father." He reasoned. "It means something."

"Can I go home with you tonight?" She asked quietly, staring him in his eyes.

"Of course you can." He gave her a small smile and slowly got up, holding his hand out for her. "I have Ray downstairs waiting. Are you ready?"

She just nodded and grabbed his hand.

* * *

When they got to his place she immediately went to the bedroom and changed out of her clothes, opting to wear his old Harvard shirt like she always used to in the past. She walked over to him in the living room and he handed her a drink.

"Thanks." She said, going over to the couch.

He didn't say anything as he went to sit on the other side of the couch.

"It's a little weird being back here." She told him.

"I know the reason isn't good, but I have to say it is nice to have you here again." He spoke up.

"So I leave for LA tomorrow afternoon." She told him after she took a drink.

"How long are you going to be gone?"

"Just a couple of days." She replied. "The funeral is set for two days from now."

"Do you…should I…do you want me to go with you?"

She looked over at him and smiled. "No. Harvey, you don't have to go."

"I didn't ask if I had to." He pointed out. "I asked if you wanted me to."

She downed the rest of her drink and sat her glass on the coffee table before crawling across the couch until she was straddling him. "It's not going to be fun and you don't have to go."

"I know it won't be fun. And that's still not a real answer. Shouldn't we talk about it?"

"No, because I don't want to talk anymore, especially about my dad." She told him. Without giving him a chance to say anything else, she started to kiss him while her hands started working on his belt.

He was aware what she was doing. She wanted a distraction from thinking about her father's death. While he would love to take her to bed, he knew that it would be wrong. She wasn't thinking clearly and he had to be gentleman. He put his hands over hers and gently slid them away.

"What?" She asked breathlessly after he pulled back from her kisses.

"We're not doing that tonight." He whispered.

"Why not? Isn't this what you want?"

"Of course it is. I always want you." He assured her. "And may I point out that you're on my lap right now so you obviously know that's true. But it isn't the right time and I don't think it is what you really want. I think you just want something to distract you from what's going on and I can't be that distraction tonight."

She rolled her eyes at him and went to sit on the other side of the couch.

"You can't tell me I'm wrong can you?"

"Do you ever tire of being right?" She asked.

"No, and I never will." He smirked, getting up and holding out his hand to her. "C'mon. Let's go get some sleep."


	49. Chapter 49

Synchronicity

Chapter Forty-Nine

The next morning he woke up to find she wasn't in bed with him. She was already dressed and was putting her hair up into a bun. "Morning."

"Hey." She said, not looking over at him. "I have to get going."

He looked at the clock. "It's still really early. Can't you stay a little while longer? I can make you some coffee and I have some bagels."

"No. But thank you." She shook her head, looking at him.

"When was the last time you ate?"

She stopped and thought about it. "I don't really know. Maybe breakfast yesterday? I'm just not hungry. And I have a ton of things I need to do at home before I leave later."

"You need to eat." He got out of bed and walked over to her. "And I was hoping we could talk about everything that's happened before you left."

"There's really nothing to talk about." She scoffed. "He's dead and I'm going back to bury him. It's as simple as that."

"We both know it isn't that simple." He pointed out.

"It can be though, if you tell yourself it is that simple." She insisted, giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "I'll call you later tonight and let you know I made it safely."

"Wait a minute." He held up his hand to her for a moment before leaving the room. He came back with a bagel and handed it to her. "Eat, please?"

She grabbed the bagel and gave him a kiss. "Ok. Thank you. Bye Harvey."

"Bye." He watched her leave and sighed.

* * *

Later that morning, Rebecca sat in her desk at her penthouse. She had been going over and over the same brief for the last 30 minutes and couldn't seem to concentrate on it long enough to get through the first page. When her phone rang, she answered it without even looking at the caller id because anything was better than re-reading the brief again.

"I'm glad you're picking up your phone today." Donna's voice rang strongly.

"Sorry about that." She apologized. "I just needed some time."

"You don't have to be sorry." Donna assured her. "I just wanted to check on you and see if there is anything I can do for you."

"I appreciate that more than you know." Rebecca smiled. "But I think I'm better now. I leave for California in a couple of hours. The funeral is tomorrow afternoon."

"If you need anything at all, please let me know. Alright?"

"I will." She promised. "Thank you Donna."

* * *

"Donna, can I ask you a question?" She had come into his office to hand him some files before she left for the night and he stopped her before she left.

"Of course." Donna replied. "What is it?"

"I'm not good at this stuff." He admitted.

"What stuff?" She laughed. "The briefs?"

"No. Not that. Relationship stuff." He scoffed.

"Ah." She nodded. "Ok. Go on."

"I asked Rebecca if she wanted me to go with her back to California and she said I didn't have to go."

"So what is the question?" Donna asked.

"Shouldn't I go anyway? Isn't that something you do in this situation when their father dies?"

"What do you think?" She asked.

"I think I need you to book me a flight for first thing in the morning."

"I already did." Donna smiled.

He laughed. "Thank you."

"See?" Donna laughed. "You're learning about how to be a good boyfriend without even realizing it!"

"I guess I am." He nodded.

* * *

Rebecca sighed heavily before pushing the call button on her phone.

"Hey." Harvey's voice came through moments later. "I was just thinking about you."

"Yeah?" She asked.

"Yeah. Is everything ok?" He asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah." She lied. She didn't realize it was a mistake not to stay in a hotel until she stepped back into her old house. There were too many memories here for her to be comfortable. But it was late and at this point she wasn't sure she would be able to sleep in a hotel tonight either. So she stayed here. "It's just very weird being back here."

"I bet it is."

"Tell me something good please." She asked, hoping she could get distracting for a moment. "I just want to hear something positive."

"Um…" He paused. "Ok. Well I won a case today. Got them to settle for a very obscene amount of money."

"Well that isn't surprising, but it is a good thing. I bet Jessica was thrilled."

"Yeah." He laughed. "I think she is almost ready to build a statue in my honor right in front of Louis' office. I bet he would love that."

She chuckled softly.

"So how are you really doing?" He asked in a more serious tone.

There was silence on the call for a moment before she answered. "I have been trying all day to think of a happy memory I have with my dad. Just one. And I can't think of anything. What's wrong with me that I can't think of something good about him? I can't think of a time when he showed up for a recital or helped me with my homework or took me to the park. All I can think of are the times he lied to me or used me for a photo op."

"I'm sorry." He told her. "But there's absolutely nothing wrong with you. He wasn't a good person and he wasn't a good father, but that has nothing to do with you."

"I hated him, Harvey." She sighed. "I truly hated him. And not just for what he did to my mom, which was unforgiveable. But also for how he treated me. He didn't seem to care about me at all. But now that he's gone…I'm sad. Obviously it's not the same way I was sad when my mom died. I'm just sad that he didn't think I was worth being around. He thought I was simply an accessory for his campaigns, as essential as a flag pin or button."

"He was an absolute idiot for not realizing how wonderful you are."

She couldn't help but smile at Harvey's words. The call went silent after that. She wanted to tell him that she missed him and she wished he was there with her. But she chickened out.

"Are you going to be ok?" He asked.

"Yeah." She assured him. "I'm just tired and tomorrow is going to be a long day. I should probably get going. I told you I'd call to let you know I got here, so I thought I should follow through on that."

"Ok. If you need anything, let me know."

"Thanks. Goodnight."

"Night."

She hung up and sighed. All she really needed was Harvey here with her. But that wasn't going to happen because she was stubborn last night and told him he didn't need to come with her. So she would go to bed in the guest room and handle tomorrow by herself. Because although she didn't feel it, she was strong and capable of handling tomorrow alone. She'd probably have to repeat that mantra over and over a few more times to believe it though.

* * *

Rebecca was rushing around the next day, trying to get ready for the funeral. Her father's attorney had come over earlier to discuss his will and it had taken longer than she thought it would because if there was one thing her father was good at…it was keeping secrets from her. She was finally ready to leave when the doorbell rang.

"Goddammit." She sighed. "I don't have time for this." She quickly hurried to the door and threw it open to reveal Harvey standing there in a dark suit. He was holding a duffle bag and looking at her wearily.

"Hey." He greeted softly. "I know you said I didn't need to come, but I couldn't let you do this by yourself."

She smiled. "Oh thank God!" The fact that he surprised her and came across the country to be with her at her father's funeral meant the world to her. Without saying another word she wrapped her arms around him. Feeling his strong arms wrap around her made her feel invincible and she closed her eyes to savor the feeling.

"So I guess you aren't mad." He chuckled.

"Not at all." She told him, grabbing his hand and pulling him inside. Then she took his duffle bag out of his other hand and placed it on the side table.

"I don't want to intrude on things." He explained. "I'm ok being in the background. I just thought you didn't need to be alone."

She closed the gap between him and gave him another hug. "You make me feel stronger." She whispered. "So I'm not letting you out of my sight today."

* * *

That night, Harvey found Rebecca sitting at the desk in her father's office. She was staring at some papers. He was glad he flew out this morning to be with her. She was right. It wasn't fun to be at Samuel's funeral, but he was glad he could be there for her. She didn't crumble or falter one time during the service or the wake. She handled all of the people who came up to give their condolences beautifully and with grace, even though he could see that she really just wanted the funeral and wake to end as soon as possible.

He liked to think it was at least partially because he was holding her hand the whole time. But that wasn't the reason. She could have done this by herself. Contrary to what she said earlier, she didn't need him to be stronger. Although he knew her confidence had been shaken the past couple of months, she was still the strongest woman he had ever known.

She looked up and saw him there.

"How long have you been perched in the doorway?" She asked with a grin on her face.

"Not long." He replied, coming to sit in the chair in front of the desk. "What are you reading?"

"My father's will." She explained. "His lawyer came by this morning and dropped it off. I still can't believe it."

"What's so unbelievable in it?"

"My father was apparently worth over $18 million dollars." She told him. "He was a career politician. How did he get that much money?"

"I don't know. That's certainly odd." He admitted.

"It's dirty money." She answered. "It has to be. And the worst part is now is that his dirty money that belongs to me."

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to give it all away." She told him. "It's the only decent thing to do. I don't want or need his money, especially if it wasn't earned honestly. I just don't know where I'm going to give it away to yet."

"Thankfully you don't have to figure it out yet." He pointed out with a smile. "You've got some time. I hate to say this, and I'll deny it if asked, but you may want to ask for Louis' help in determining the best way to avoid a huge amount of taxes. He's pretty good at that and I'm sure he would help you."

"Yeah. Thanks. I probably will." She nodded, getting up from the desk.

He watched as she came over and leaned against the desk in front of where he was sitting.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

"You're welcome." He smiled.

"Do you even know what I'm thanking you for?"

"I assume it is for coming out here."

"It is for that…" She trailed off. "It's also for the other night. I know I said I wanted us to take things slow. But then I wasn't fair to you when I asked to go home with you and tried to seduce you."

"Any other time I would have taken you up on that offer without a second thought." He pointed out.

"But you didn't that night because you were being a perfect gentleman." She smiled. "So thank you."

"Like I said earlier, you're welcome." He smiled back.

She leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a good man, Harvey. I'm lucky to have you in my life."

"I could say the same thing about having you in my life."


	50. Chapter 50

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifty

Rebecca knocked on the door and bit her lip. She was nervous about what she was about to do. She relaxed a little when Rachel opened the door and smiled at her.

"Hey!" Rachel greeted. "What brings you all the way out to our place?"

"I was actually hoping I could talk to you and Mike for a moment." She smiled. "Is now a good time or a bad time?"

"It's a good time." Rachel nodded. "Come in. Would you like something to drink?"

"No thanks." She shook her head. This conversation was something she wanted to have completely sober. She followed Rachel into their house and sat down in one of the chairs in the living room. Mike was already sitting on one of the couches.

"Hey Rebecca. What are you doing here?" Mike greeted, putting his stack of papers down on the coffee table.

"I have something I need to run past you both. I have an idea for the firm and I wanted to see if you would be up for the challenge." She explained.

"Sounds mysterious." Rachel chuckled. "Do tell."

"So as you know, my father died last week. His entire estate belongs to me now…all $18 million of it."

"I'm sorry…" Mike interrupted. "Did you say $18 million?"

"Yes." She nodded. "Anyway, I want to get rid of the money. But I also want to do something meaningful with it. That's where you two come into play."

"How?" Rachel asked, exchanging a glance with her husband.

"Are you giving us $18 million dollars?" Mike joked.

"Well…yes and no." Rebecca laughed. "I want to go to Jessica and ask her to use my money to fund a pro bono department for the firm. And I want you two to run it."

"Us?" Rachel asked. "Why us?"

"Rachel, you have one of the biggest hearts of anyone in that office. But you also have a killer instinct. And Mike, Harvey has told me in the past that you don't like only helping out big corporations. You want to also help out individuals and do good things with the law. I can't think of two people better suited to head a pro bono department." She explained.

"Do you think Jessica would even go for something like this?" Mike questioned.

"I don't know yet." She shrugged. "She may or she may not. But I wanted to see if you two would be on board with it before I went to her."

"I think this is something we need to discuss." Rachel told her after a few moments. "Can we get back to you about it?"

"Absolutely. Take your time and really think about it" She nodded. "And let me know if you have any questions."

"We definitely will." Mike told her.

"Ok. I'll go ahead and see myself out." She gave them one last smile before she left.

* * *

Two days later, Rebecca was walking down the hallway towards her office when Mike came up to her.

"We're in." He said without preamble.

"Really?" She smiled at him.

"Really." He nodded. "We talked about it, and if Jessica gives you the go ahead, we'll run it for you."

"Thank you!" She smiled. "I'll go talk to Jessica right now."

"What are you going to talk to Jessica about?" Harvey asked, walking up to them.

"I need to go finish a filing." Mike chuckled, leaving abruptly.

"Why is he acting weird?" Harvey questioned.

"Who says he's acting any weirder than normal?" She chuckled.

"So what are you planning on talking to Jessica about?"

"I have a proposal for her." She told him, going into her office and grabbing the folder with her proposal in it.

"I hope it isn't like the one I had for you a while back." He said quietly.

She remembered when he had out of the blue asked him to marry her a few weeks ago. But as far as she was concerned that wasn't a real proposal. She smirked. "No. This proposal is actually real and not hypothetical."

She watched his scowl at her words and felt bad.

"Are you going to talk to her right now?" He asked.

"Yeah, I was. Why?"

"As a name partner I have a right to be there too."

"Ok." She turned so she could get to Jessica's office. He didn't say anything else as he followed behind her and she wondered if she had truly made him mad by calling his proposal hypothetical. It was a joke, but apparently he didn't think it was funny.

"Is now a bad time?" Rebecca asked from Jessica's doorway.

"I have a couple of moments." Jessica replied, waving her in. "What brings you and Harvey in to see me together?"

"I'm just here to watch her talk to you about whatever she had going on." Harvey spoke up.

"Ok." Jessica stood up. "Now I'm intrigued."

"I am the executor of my father's estate and he has left me a lot of money. I need to do something good with this money to counteract the kind of man he was, and a large part of me feels guilty for the part I played in Xavier's death." She started to explain.

"So you want to get some kind of penance?" Jessica asked.

"Exactly." She nodded, handing Jessica the folder. "And I was thinking that maybe…with your permission, I could give the money to the firm so they could start a pro bono department."

"That's all fine and good." Jessica told her. "But starting a pro bono department would cost this firm millions."

"I have $18 million, minus estate taxes, to get it up and running." She smiled. "And when word gets out that we have a dedicated pro bono department, we will gain more clients and be able to fundraise for the money sustain it."

"You certainly have thought this through." Jessica praised her. "But the thing I don't understand is who are you going to get to run it? Are you planning on running it?"

"No." She shook her head. "I have Rachel and Mike on board with running the department." She looked over at Harvey, expecting to see him happy that she found something to do with her father's dirty money. Instead he looked pissed off.

"That's very interesting." Jessica said, sitting back down. "Give me some time to think about this and run it past the other partners. I'll let you know what happens."

"Thank you." She smiled at Jessica and left the office. Harvey was definitely mad and she knew it wouldn't be long until he came looking for her.

* * *

"You can't approve this and you shouldn't even take it to the other partners." Harvey told Jessica once Rebecca was out of earshot.

"Why not?" Jessica sighed. "It's a very well thought-out plan and we could always use the good publicity."

"She can't have Mike." He said. "He's my associate. She only a senior partner. She can't just start appointing associates to different positions without asking."

"You sound like a little kid picking a fight over the last blue crayon." Jessica pointed out.

"You're calling Mike a crayon?" He chuckled.

"I'm also calling you a little kid." She laughed. "I guess that part slipped right past you. Look, I know Mike is like your protégé, but if he wants to do this then you need to let him."

"Like hell I do." He muttered under his breath as he left Jessica's office. He stormed down the hallway to Rebecca's office, closing the door behind him. "You have a lot of nerve trying to take Mike and box him into a pro bono department."

"I'm not trying to box anyone into anything." She insisted. "I simply asked if he and Rachel would be interested. They said they were and they wanted to do it."

"You have no right to take Mike away from me."

"C'mon Harvey, that's not what this is and you know it." She finally understood why he was mad. He thought she was trying to punish him by separating him from his best friend. "You were the one who has told me several times that Mike wants to do good things with his law degree for real people and not just corporate conglomerates. This gives him a chance to help real people."

"I don't like this." He told her.

"I can tell." She smiled. "Look, I didn't think you would have such a big problem with this. I thought you would be happy that I figured out something good to do with this money. But apparently I'm wrong about a lot of things today."

"You shouldn't do things like this without consulting me first." He pouted.

"I'm sorry if your feelings are hurt. And I probably should have told you what I was thinking about doing before. I'm sorry about that. But Mike is a grown up and he can make his own decisions about his life." She sighed.

"He's my Goddamn associate!" Harvey yelled.

"Like I said, I'm sorry you are mad and hurt by this, but if this is what Mike wants then your problem is with him and not me. We can talk about this more later if you want. But if you'll excuse me, I have work to do on the Sullivan case before the deposition in an hour."

He begrudgingly left Rebecca's office.


	51. Chapter 51

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifty One

"Do you have that motion done?" Harvey asked Mike later that afternoon when he came in. "I think you're still my associate for at least a little while longer."

"Here it is." Mike said, placing the folder on his desk. "So you aren't happy about everything that has happened, are you?"

"You're Goddamn right I'm not happy." He said, flipping through the motion.

"I'm not doing this to hurt you, you know that. Right?" Mike asked.

"I know." He sighed.

"You also know that Rebecca isn't trying to hurt you either…right?"

He was silent for a moment. Although he said that to her, he didn't really believe it. It just stung. First she called his marriage proposal hypothetical and questioned how serious he was. Then she suddenly told him about a plan to take Mike away from him. There was a good chance he overreacted.

Of course, she was to blame too because she didn't come to him and talk to him about it beforehand. It wasn't that she needed his permission. He just would have liked to know what she was doing with the money. But instead of talking it over with him, she just decided to do something and then did it on her own. It was frustrating.

"Harvey…you know that, right?" Mike repeated himself.

"I know." He nodded. "It's bad enough Rebecca wants to move you, but she didn't even talk to me about it first."

"Well I don't know what her reasoning for that was, but I would bet money she wasn't actively trying to hurt you."

"Most likely she wasn't trying to. But she did." He conceded.

"You know, when Rebecca came to us about this idea, Rachel and I talked about it a lot. We went over the pros and the cons a lot. And the biggest con I could think of was not working side by side with you every day." Mike explained. "But this is something I want to do. I have to do it. Do you know how many people we can help with a dedicated pro bono department?"

"I know." He sighed again. "It's a good idea and I'm proud of her for coming up with a way to spend her inheritance."

"Have you told Rebecca that?"

"No." He shook his head.

"You should." Mike laughed. "And look, just because we won't be working side by side anymore it doesn't mean we won't still see each other or work on some cases together. You aren't getting rid of me that easily."

Harvey couldn't help but laugh at that. "This is really what you want to do? It will make you happy?"

"It will." Mike nodded.

"Then you should do it."

Mike smiled and held out his hand to shake Harvey's hand.

"No." Harvey shook his head. "We'll fist bump." He held up his fist and watched Mike's eyes go wide with excitement at the prospect of a fist bump. "But don't tell anyone."

"It's our secret." Mike laughed.

* * *

After the Sullivan deposition was done, Rebecca walked back to her office. But she hesitated before going in. This thing with Harvey weighed on her mind and it was difficult to concentrate during the deposition.

She knew this time, the whole thing was entirely her fault. She didn't think she should have had to consult him about what she wanted to do with her father's money but she still should have talked to him about it before going to Jessica. It wasn't fair for him to be blindsided.

She looked over at Donna, who was just staring at her and went over to her desk. "Is he busy?"

"No more than usual." Donna replied.

"Is he still mad?"

"Oh yeah." Donna nodded and chuckled softly. "You really poked the hornet's nest this time. Congratulations on that."

"Trust me, I know." She sighed. "I didn't mean to, but I know."

"Good luck." Donna chuckled.

Rebecca gave her friend a small smile before going into Harvey's office. He looked up at her immediately and then went back to the papers in front of him.

"Do you have a moment to talk?"

"I'm kind of busy." He told her.

"I just need five minutes." She bargained.

"If we are going to rehash what we went over in your office earlier, we are going to need more than five minutes." He pointed out. "And now I've got a timed deadline. So why don't I just come by your place when I'm done tonight and we can talk then?"

"Ok." She nodded. That was fair. While she would like to get everything straightened out now, at least he wasn't blowing her off completely. "I'll see you tonight." She turned to leave.

"Rebecca. Wait." He called after her.

She turned around to see him getting up from his desk. He walked over to her and wrapped one arm around her. Then he placed a quick kiss on her lips.

"Just because I may be pissed off at you doesn't mean I love you any less." He whispered into her ear.

She smiled before giving him a quick kiss. "I love you too."

He let go of her and walked back to his desk. "I'll try not to get out of here too late tonight."

"Doesn't matter. I'll wait up no matter how late you end up leaving the office." She gave him a small smile and then left his office.

* * *

Harvey stood on Rebecca's doorstep and paused before knocking. She wasn't going to like what he had to say to her, but he had to say it. One of them had to at some point and it looked like the job was going to fall on him. He knocked lightly.

It didn't take her long to open the door.

"Hey." She gave him a small smile. "Come in."

He entered her place and waited for her to close the door before talking again. "So…"

"I wanted to start off by apologizing again. I'm really sorry. I should have talked to you about what I was thinking of doing with the money before I went to anyone else. How you found out about it wasn't fair."

"No, it wasn't fair." He told her. "Look, I'll be the first one to admit that I have issues. And I think we both know what those issues are and we don't have to rehash them right now. But I don't think you realize that you have issues too."

"Oh I know I have issues." She chuckled. "But what kind of issues are you talking about?"

"You go off and you do whatever you want without talking to me. I mean, I thought we were a team but you don't seem to think that judging from your actions."

"Harvey…"

"No." He interrupted her. "Let me finish please. I love you more than I thought it was even possible for me to love another person. And we've talked about my issues and how they have affected you a lot. But now your issues are affecting me. So let's talk about them."

"You want to talk about my issues?" She scoffed.

"Yes." He nodded. "I do."

"Ok. We can talk about them." She sighed. "But I'm going to need a drink for this conversation." She went over to the minibar and poured two drinks. Then she handed him one. "Where do you want to start?"

"How about the fact that although you like to put up this façade that you are 100% confident, you actually have low self-esteem?"

"That's just been lately." She countered.

"OK. How about the fact that no matter what I do or say, I still get the feeling that you don't fully believe I love you?"

"I do believe you love me." She argued. "I just…"

"What?" He asked in a soft tone. She seemed hesitant to open up to him and he needed her to be honest. "I'm just trying to get to the root of our problems so we can work through them. Just tell me. We need to be completely honest with each other if this is ever going to work out."

"Ok." She sighed. "I sometimes feel like Mike is the third party in our relationship."

"How?" He scoffed.

"Harvey, come on!" She chuckled. "You can't seriously deny that Mike and his secret have had a pretty big impact on our relationship. Do I really have to spell it out for you?"

"No. I guess you don't." He nodded.

"And if we're being totally honest, there are times that I think if you had to choose between Mike or me, you wouldn't choose me." She said softly.

"That's insane." He scoffed. "Of course I would choose you. I'd always choose you."

"Really?" She challenged. "Right after I told you about Xavier knowing about Mike's secret you completely ignored me that night even though I still needed you so that you could help Mike."

He remembered doing that and could see her point of view. "I can see how it would look like that but Mike's issue was under a time crunch. I had to get working on it to make sure Mike's secret didn't come out. But I'm sorry if that hurt you."

"It did." She told him.

"You really think he is a third party in our relationship?"

"Sometimes." She confessed. "I know you love him like a brother and I do too. But sometimes that's how I feel. And it may not be right but I can't help it."

"Is that why you created a pro bono department and pushed him into it?" He asked. "You were jealous of Mike and moved him to create some distance between us?"

"No." She shook her head. "Why would I do that?"

"Well you did just get done telling me you think he is a third wheel." He reasoned.

"You really think I'm that devious?"

"Well maybe you've turned into your father's daughter." As soon as he said that he knew it was wrong and groaned. That was not a good thing to say. He didn't even believe it. But he was just so frustrated that it spilled out. "I'm sorry."

"I'm going to believe that you didn't mean to say that to me and let that one go." She told him as she glared at him.

"I truly didn't mean to say that. It's not even close to being the truth and I'm sorry."

"Look, Harvey…The truth is this…I came up with the pro bono department because I thought it would help a lot of people. I enlisted Rachel and Mike because they are the two best people we have for that department. Also, let's be honest. There is no way that Jessica will ever let Mike become a senior partner or get his name up on the wall. She probably won't even let him be the head of the department either. But if he runs it with Rachel by his side, maybe he won't feel so stuck. And maybe he'll be able to follow through on what he told me he wanted to do after I found out about his secret."

"What did he tell you?"

"I asked him why he was still practicing law and he said he was doing it because he loves to help people. He can help a lot more people doing pro bono." She explained.

"I know he can." He sighed. He didn't realize that she was feeling insecure about Mike and wasn't sure what to do about it. For now, he realized he had to stick to his original plan. "I'm sorry you feel like Mike is more important to me than you. But that isn't true."

"It just sneaks up on me sometimes." She whispered.

He came over and gave her a hug. Then he pulled back a little. "I listened to you when you said that we needed to take things slowly and you were right about that. It was the right thing to do and I thought we were getting closer. I thought we had reached a good place in our relationship and finally had a good foundation."

"I thought that too." She nodded.

"Now…now I'm not so sure."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm going to say something and I want you to really hear me out about it." He told her. "Alright?"

"Ok." She agreed, nodding her head.

"Sometimes I have trouble believing you love me as much as you say you do."

"Because I almost moved to London?" She asked quietly.

"That's a big piece of it."

"I thought I explained it though and I thought we moved past that."

"You did, and we did. But it's something that sneaks into my mind when things like this pro bono department debacle happens." He explained.

"Ok." She took a deep breath. "I can understand that. But Harvey, you have to know that I love you."

"Is love enough though?" He hated having to ask that question but it needed to be asked.

"What are you talking about?" She moved a couple of steps away from him.

The look on her face was one of weariness and panic. He wished he didn't have to say some of these things but they needed to be said.

"I love you and you love me." He recapped. "But we keep going around and around in circles. We make progress and then we backslide and we end up back here, angry with each other over stupid shit the other one has done. It has to stop."

She downed the rest of her drink and put the empty glass on the counter. "Are you breaking up with me?"

"No." He assured her, watching her face instantly relax from the look of panic that was on it before. "But we need to do a better job of being in a relationship. Which is why I'm giving you an ultimatum. I don't want to but I feel like it's the only way now."

"What kind of ultimatum?" She asked.

"We need to be all in on this relationship. As far as I am concerned, it's either all or nothing. And before you ask, I'm not talking about sex. I'm talking about emotionally. We both need to work as a team. That means no more secrets, no more trying to run away, no more stupid shit that gets in the way. We tell each other absolutely everything and work together as a team from now on or we break up for good and move on." He explained.

"Harvey…"

"Don't answer now." He interrupted. "Think about it for a day or two and then let me know what you decide." He came closer to her and gave her a kiss on her forehead before leaving.


	52. Chapter 52

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifty-Two

"I called you all in here to let you know my final decision." Jessica told the group the next afternoon.

Rebecca looked around at Mike, Rachel and Harvey. Mike and Rachel looked hopeful. Harvey looked morose. He looked over at her for a moment and then looked back at Jessica. After their conversation last night they hadn't spoken. She was still trying to process everything that happened.

He was right about how they needed to be a team and stop letting stupid shit get between them. But she didn't necessarily appreciate the ultimatum. To her, it seemed like same kind of stupid shit he talked about causing problems for them last night.

"Rachel…Mike…Rebecca tells me you two would be willing to run the pro bono department?" Jessica asked. "Is that true?"

"Yes." Rachel spoke up.

"Obviously, knowing what we know about you Mike, we can't have you be the face of the department. So that means Rachel would be the head of a department. She will have to be in charge. Is that still alright?" Jessica questioned.

"Yes." Mike nodded. "It makes sense for me to not be a figurehead. I'm alright with it."

"Ok then." Jessica nodded and turned to Rebecca. "Looks like you will need to give us your fathers' money so we can get started."

She smiled. "Thank you Jessica."

"It's a good idea and I think it will not only help people but also help this firm." Jessica explained.

Rebecca took another look at Harvey, who walked over to the window and was staring out into the skyline. She decided to follow Rachel and Mike out of Jessica's office instead of trying to talk to him right now. She walked down the hallway with them.

"Don't worry about Harvey." Mike told her. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Hopefully." She put on a small smile.

"We should celebrate." Rachel smiled. "Maybe dinner tonight?"

"Can I take a raincheck?" She asked. While she was thrilled that the money her father left her would be going towards doing some good in the world, she didn't feel like celebrating right now.

"Sure." Rachel nodded.

She smiled at them before heading into her office.

* * *

Harvey went into his office after talking with Jessica and saw that Mike was sitting on the couch waiting for him. "Congratulations." He sighed.

"Thanks." Mike nodded. "So what is going on with you and Rebecca?"

"It's nothing." He shook it off.

"It doesn't seem like nothing."

"Since when do you come in here and try to wedge yourself into my personal life?" Harvey scoffed.

"Rachel pushed me to come in here. She sensed something was wrong earlier and I have to agree with her." He admitted. "So what is going on?"

Harvey sighed. "I gave her an ultimatum last night."

"Whoa. An ultimatum? What kind?"

"I told her we had to start working as a team and we both needed to be all in on our relationship. If she wasn't willing to do that, then we need to end things now." He replied, focusing on the papers in front of him.

"What brought that on?" Mike asked. "Was it the pro bono?"

"Partially." Harvey sighed. "Sometimes I don't feel like she loves me as much as I love her."

"But she does." Mike told him. "Anyone can see that."

"She was ready to move to another continent." He pointed out. "If the situations were reversed, I wouldn't be able to do that and move that far away from her."

"But she didn't move to London."

"Because the job was with Edward Darby." He pointed out.

"Ok. What about what happened with Xavier? The fact that she has kept my secret isn't because she is in love with me. It's because she is in love with you."

"I'm not discounting that."

"Then what else is bothering you?" Mike asked.

"Apparently she doesn't believe I would choose her over you if there was ever a choice to be made."

"But of course you would choose her." Mike laughed.

"She doesn't believe that."

"Did you tell her about your plan B?"

"No." Harvey shook his head. "And I don't intend on telling her."

"But that could convince her that you love her more than anything…"

"I'm not telling her about it and that is final!" He yelled, banging his hands on the desk.

"Fine." Mike sighed. "I think it is a mistake though."

"Dually noted." He sighed.

* * *

Later that evening Rebecca looked up and saw Mike standing in her doorway. "Hey."

"Hey." He came into her office.

"So what brings you to my office today?" She asked.

"I'm just trying to figure out if I should tell you what I think you deserve to know." He sighed.

"Ok. But if you think I deserve to know something, then you have to tell me." She demanded with a smile.

He closed the door to her office and came over to sit down, checking behind him before he spoke again. "I usually like to leave the butting into people's personal business to Donna because she does it so much better, but I think this is something you need to know and I don't think he will ever tell you. And this is something you need to know."

"Ok." She nodded. "Why are you being so serious?"

"Because it is a serious matter." He explained. "Do you remember what you said to me when I came to talk to you after Harvey told you my secret?"

"Yeah." She nodded again. "But I said several things so do you want to narrow it down a little?"

"You said that Harvey would Thelma and Louise it right off a cliff with me if it ever came to that and he wouldn't think twice about doing it."

"Ok. Yeah. I remember that."

"Well what you don't know is that he was working on a plan to Thelma and Louise it right off a cliff with you if he wasn't able to figure out a better defense strategy."

"What does that even mean?" She laughed out of nervousness.

"Three days after your arraignment, he came to me and told me that he wanted my help figuring out how he could successfully confess to killing Xavier to get your charges dropped. He wanted to fabricate enough evidence to make it look like he killed Xavier because Xavier was trying to take his clients and also you away from him. We even contacted Lola to help. He wanted it as a plan B for if he couldn't find any other way to keep you from going to jail." Mike explained.

"No…" She chuckled. "He wouldn't do th…" She trailed off. She was going to say that Harvey wouldn't do something like that, but she knew deep down that the truth was he would. "He would have gone to jail for me…"

"I know you've felt like you weren't really a true part of his life before and I can see how you might think you weren't as important to him as me or Donna or anyone else. But I think this should be enough to prove you wrong and since I know he would never tell you about it…"

"Thank you, Mike." She interrupted. "I appreciate it."

"You're welcome." Mike said.

"But why are you telling me this now?" She questioned.

"I just feel like you guys need to stop second guessing each other. He told me about the ultimatum. I think all he really wants is to know that you are going to be a team from now on. Maybe this could help with that." He said, getting up from the chair and walking towards the door.

"He really was prepared to confess to a murder that he didn't do, knowing he would end up in jail, just to keep me out of jail?" She asked.

"He didn't even hesitate to say yes when I asked him if he was sure."

She didn't say anything else to Mike before he left. There was too much swirling around in her head. Three days after her arraignment was the day after they spent the night together. He apparently woke up after that and thought he would take the blame for her if he had to.

Mike was right. She never truly felt like she was an important part of his life and she always felt like she wasn't as important. It had hurt her feelings when she realized just how far Harvey would go to protect Mike because she didn't think he would ever do something like that for her if the situation ever presented itself. But now she had proof that she was wrong.

She knew exactly what she needed to do now.


	53. Chapter 53

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifty-Three

Harvey was sipping some scotch and staring out at the view from his balcony door. He wasn't always a patient man and waiting for Rebecca to talk to him was starting to drive him crazy. When he heard a knock on his door, he sat down his glass and walked over to the door.

Opening it, he was happy but also surprised to see Rebecca there in a coat. It was July so the coat didn't make a lot of sense. But he brushed that thought aside because he was glad to see her. He had some apologizing to do. The look on her face was blank and he couldn't get a reading on whether or not this was a good visit or a bad visit. "Hey."

"Can I come in?" She asked.

"Of course." He nodded. "Do you want something to drink?"

"No. Not right now." She shook her head. She waited until he shut the door before talking again. "I don't like the ultimatum. I can see why you want to do it, but it seems like the same stupid shit you were saying we needed to stop doing."

"I know. I just didn't know how else to phrase this though." He defended himself.

"Fair enough I guess." She nodded. "You made some good points last night. I just have one question I need to ask you."

"Ok. You can ask me anything."

"What was your plan B for my defense?"

He looked at her and could tell that she already knew. "Dammit Mike."

"So he was telling the truth?" She asked.

"He shouldn't have told you anything."

"You're right." She chuckled. "He shouldn't have been the one to tell me that. It should have been you. You know you can't come into my place and tell me that we need to have no secrets between us and then less than 24 hours later have me find out that you actually still have secrets you're keeping from me. It's hypocritical."

"I didn't think you needed to know because it never came to that." He reasoned.

"Thank God it never came to that!" She exclaimed. "But Harvey…" She said quietly. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I didn't…I couldn't bear to see you go to jail." He confessed. "So I worked on a backup plan. But it was only something I was going to do as a last resort if it looked like there was no other way out."

"You would have gone to jail for something you didn't do." She pointed out.

"It would have been worth it if it meant you didn't go to jail." He told her.

She could tell that he was telling the truth. He loved her enough to risk going to jail for her. "You don't know how much that means to me that you would go to that length to keep me from jail. But please don't ever do something like that again. I couldn't bear it if I had to watch you go to jail either."

"Hopefully we won't ever have to worry about that."

There was a moment of silence between them and he wasn't sure what to say anymore.

"Look, I love you Harvey." She told him. "And I know you love me, and I'm so tired of being afraid of us not working out. I want you…you want me…let's just go all in."

"Really?" He asked, staring into her eyes. "You aren't scared anymore?"

She smirked. "I'm petrified. I'm petrified that you will do something or I will do something that will cause this whole thing to come crashing down around us. But I'd rather be petrified with you than miserable without you. You're right though. We need to be acting like a team. I could be the new Robin to your Batman."

"I'd rather you be my Catwoman." He smirked.

"Is that just to see me in a leather jumpsuit?" She laughed.

"You know me too well." He nodded.

"Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm not going to be Catwoman." She shook her head. "Besides, she was an enemy of Batman."

"They worked together sometimes." He argued half-heartedly. "Fine. You can be Batgirl."

"We can figure that out later." She laughed again. She didn't say anything else. Instead, she closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around his neck and starting to kiss him.

She started to unbutton his shirt while still kissing him. After she got his shirt off, he reluctantly broke the kiss off and stood back.

"So we aren't going slow anymore?" He wanted to make sure that he was understanding her properly.

She leaned in to whisper into his ear. "I think after you take off my coat you're going to want to go hard and fast." She pulled back and winked at him.

He slowly tugged at the belt of the coat until it revealed that she was naked underneath. He was reminded of when she did that in the beginning of their relationship and groaned softly. "Fuck me."

"That's my intention." She whispered.

* * *

"I'm sorry for being mad at you about Mike." He told her a couple of hours later as they laid in bed. "I know you weren't trying to hurt me."

"No, I wasn't." She answered. She was laying on his chest with her arm wrapped around his upper body and he was rubbing small circles on her arm. "But I probably should have told you about what I was thinking of doing before I went to Jessica. So I'm sorry for not giving you some warning."

"It's ok." He assured her. "I overreacted. But I am proud of you for coming up with something good to do with your father's money."

"Thank you." She whispered. "I just hope that his money can do some good in the world because God knows he didn't contribute anything good to the world."

"That's not entirely true." He argued.

She pushed herself up so she could look at him. "I dare you to name one good thing he did."

"That's easy." He laughed. "I don't know the best way to say this, but he engaged in the act that helped your mother conceive you."

"Ugh." She shivered. "I don't want to think about my parents having sex."

"Sorry. But if that hadn't happened, you wouldn't exist."

"True." She nodded, leaning in to kiss him. When they finally pulled apart from each other again, she spoke up. "So now that we are all in, I think now is a good time for us to speak up about any other secrets we may have from each other."

"Do you have more secrets?" He asked.

"It's not really a secret, so much as a goal." She explained.

"Now I'm curious." He chuckled. "Do tell."

"Ok." She agreed. "So I've thought about it and I'd like to end up being a name partner at the firm eventually. I'm not talking about this year or even next year. I know I haven't been at the firm long enough to prove my worth. But it is my long term goal. I thought you should know that…not because you are a name partner, but because you are my…well whatever we are calling each other now."

He was surprised by her desire to be a name partner, but he shouldn't have been. He knew shew as ambitious. It was one of the things he loved about her. He wasn't sure what Jessica's thoughts on it would be so he would hold off on commenting about her chances. "Thank you for sharing that. It's exactly the type of thing that we should be sharing with each other."

She smiled. "So do you have anything you feel you should tell me?"

He hesitated, but he knew he needed to be honest with her. "I do actually. When I said marry me a few weeks ago, I was being serious."

"What?" She shook her head. "No, Harvey…you couldn't have been…"

He saw the shocked look on her face and nodded. "Yeah. I was serious about it."

"And I brushed it off as a joke." She leaned in and gave him a kiss. "Harvey, I'm so sorry. I just thought…I'm sorry."

"It's ok." He shrugged.

"No. She shook her head. "It's not ok. I just assumed that you were kidding."

"I'm not mad about it anymore and I understand how you could have been mistaken. Anyway, I just thought you should know since we are being honest with each other."

"This is nice…" She chuckled. "I like being here with you and telling each other this kind of stuff."

"We should have been doing this more since the beginning." He chuckled.

"I agree." She smiled. She climbed on top of him, pressing her body on his. "But let's continue this talk later. We have some more catching up to do."

He tightened his gasp around her body. "Yes we certainly do."


	54. Chapter 54

Synchronicity

Chapter Fifty-Four

Harvey opened his eyes the next day and smiled when he realized it wasn't a dream. He woke up and she was still here, curled up next to him. He tightened his grip around her and kissed the top of her head.

"Mmm…what time is it?" She asked in a groggy voice.

"It's about seven thirty." He answered.

"I should get going soon so I can get into work."

"It's the Fourth of July." He reminded her. "Don't go in to work. Stay here in bed with me."

"That is an incredibly tempting offer, but I have a deposition and a hearing tomorrow that I need to prep for so I need to go in." She told him.

"Do you have to go right now?" He asked with a chuckle.

"I guess I can stay a while longer." She looked up at him. "After all, I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Someone kept me up most of the night."

"Don't tell me you didn't love every moment of it." He smirked.

"I think you know I did." She smirked back. "I missed this. I missed waking up next to you."

"Me too." He assured her.

"I love you Harvey." She said before moving so she could give him a kiss.

"I love you too." He told her.

* * *

Harvey knocked on the door, impatiently waiting for it to open. When it did, he saw Mike.

"Hey, Harvey. Rachel and I were actually on our way out to her parents' for their annual July 4th barbecue. I hope this isn't about a case because I don't want to miss Robert's BBQ ribs." Mike greeted.

"No." He shook his head. "It isn't about a case and I'll make it quick." He pushed his way into Mike's house and stood in the entryway. "You told Rebecca even though I told you not to."

"Yeah, I did." Mike acknowledged. "I thought she had a right to know and I'm not sorry about it."

"You were right to do it." He admitted.

"Really?" Mike laughed. "Can you say that again after I get Rachel to come downstairs so I can have a witness?"

"No." He chuckled and shook his head. "It's a one-time thing."

"So did you two work things out?"

"Yeah. We did."

"Good." Mike smiled. "I'm glad."

"Mike, uh, I need a favor. I need you to take a look at something and tell me your honest opinion about it." He said.

"Ok, but is it something that you should be going to a doctor about?" Mike joked. "Because I'm not qualified to pretend to be a doctor. I'm only qualified to pretend to be a lawyer."

"No, you smartass." Harvey shook his head. He pulled out the ring box and opened it. "What do you think?"

"I think I have to say I'm flattered but it's a no Harvey. I'm already happily married to Rachel and I'm just not that into you. I'm sorry."

"Dammit Mike…" He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "This isn't a joke. What do you think?"

"You really want to do this?" Mike asked.

"Yeah." He nodded. "Do you think I'm crazy? Is it too soon?"

"No." Mike shook his head. "I don't think you are crazy. But to be honest, I wasn't sure I would ever see the day where you would come to me with this kind of question."

"I didn't either." He chuckled. "But it feels right."

"Then that's how you know you aren't crazy. I felt the same way before I proposed to Rachel."

"Thanks Mike." He went to the door and opened it.

"Go get 'em tiger!" Mike laughed as he left.

* * *

"Hey. Why did you ask me to meet you up here?" Rebecca asked she walked towards Harvey. They were on the roof of their office building that night. She had gotten a cryptic text from him asking her to join him on the roof.

"It's a good view, right?" He asked, staring at the city.

"Yeah. It's a very nice view. It's even better than from your office." She agreed. "So again, why are we up here?"

"The fireworks should start soon." He mentioned casually.

"Ok. So did you bring me up here just to see some fireworks?" She asked, still unclear why she was up here with him. He didn't have time to answer before the fireworks show started. So she turned away from him and started to watch it.

After a moment she decided to look over at him. So she turned around and saw that he was beside her, on one knee. In his hand was an open ring box, displaying a large princess cut engagement ring.

In that moment it was like she had been kicked in the chest. All of the air was sucked from her lungs and she didn't think she could move. She looked at the ring and then at Harvey's face. He looked serious and she was slightly nervous about what was happening. "Harvey what are you doing?" She whispered.

"The last time I did this it wasn't the right time. And I was a fool and just blurted it out. It wasn't a real proposal. It wasn't romantic. It wasn't special. It wasn't what you deserved. Hell, it wasn't even a question. It was just blurted out in the heat of the moment. I can understand how you didn't have a chance to believe that I actually wanted this. But I do want this. I wasn't kidding when I said I wanted us to go all in." He started, pausing for a moment.

"From the first moment I saw you, I knew you were someone I had to meet. And then I soon realized you were the most amazing woman I'd ever met. I know I haven't been good at our relationship. I spook easily and I lash out when I get scared. I haven't always told you enough how much you mean to me or how much I love you. And it isn't fair to you. Any other woman would have run screaming away from me a long time ago, but you haven't. You surprisingly keep coming back."

"You and I have something special. To say we've been through a lot is an understatement. And what I'm asking is that we spend the rest of our lives together. I want to see what else we can get through together. It's a big decision and I understand that. But I'm hoping that you will take a chance on me because I do love you. I love you more than I could ever be able to put into words. You're everything to me and I want you in my life every day for the rest of my life. I want to come home to you, I want to wake up with you, and I want to spend as much time during the day with you that I can. I want us to be the best husband and wife lawyer team this city has ever seen. So will you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

She searched his face while he was delivering his speech. Everything he said was true and she could see in his eyes that he was sincere. He set this up…the fireworks in the background, the ring and the speech. He put a lot of thought into this and it was the most romantic thing ever.

He was staring at her and she knew she needed to speak up. She put her hands on his shoulders and had him stand up. "Harvey…"

"Rebecca…Hear me out." He pleaded. "I know you think I'm not ready for something like this, but you're wrong. I am ready. Can I tell you what this ring means to me?"

She slowly nodded her head.

"To me, this ring not only means you become my wife. It means neither of us can run. Neither of us can freak out and break up with the other one. It means we become a team and we face everything together as a team. If one of us freaks out, and let's be honest it will most likely be me who freaks out, we deal with it together. No more break ups."

"For real?" She smiled. "No more break ups?"

"Never." He promised.

"And you aren't going to freak out about this tomorrow?" She asked.

He chuckled. "I can't make that promise. But I can promise we would deal with it together."

"I love you Harvey. And for what it's worth, I was ready to say yes as soon as I saw you kneeling with the ring." Without second guessing it, she leaned in and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"So that's a yes?" He smiled.

"Yes. It's definitely a yes." She said, staring into his eyes. In that moment she didn't think she had ever seen him look that happy.

He gave her a quick kiss before grabbing her hand and slipping the ring on her finger. Then he grabbed her by the waist and swung her around. "We're getting married."

"Yes, we are." She chuckled, leaning in for another kiss.

* * *

First of all, a huge thank you to everyone who has read and/or reviewed this story! This was my first Suits fandom experience and you guys rock! I know I put you all through a LOT of drama and angst. Hopefully now that the story is done you get a sense of the overall arc these characters had to go through to get to this point. I am currently working on a sequel because I can't seem to get these characters out of my head. Their journey together is far from over. Look for that story to start getting published sometime in the next two weeks or so. Again, thank you for reading!


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